Strange and beautiful romance
by dog-tooth
Summary: She loved him more then anything, but how could she love the man  that ruined her life, the man that killed her family and worst of all the man who stole her away from the rest of the world? Complete!
1. Prologue

Prologue

She drove up to her house and parked her car on the road outside, noticing that her mother's car was already parked in the driveway. Before entering the house she took a mint from her purse and started munching on it, so that it would disguise the smell of alcohol that was on her breath. That seemed to be all she'd done in the past two weeks, drink. It distracted her, made her numb.

When she opened the door to her house the first thing she noticed was how quiet it was. The television was on but there were none of the normal noises of chatting and people moving around.

She walked in slowly, the alcohol having made her slightly tipsy and slightly incoherent.

She was about to call out her mothers name but something stopped her. Whether it was the thought of being caught smelling of alcohol, or the feeling that was something was wrong she did not know, but either way doing this might have saved her life although she did not know this yet.

She threw her jacket on the sofa and turned off the television which seemed too loud in the silence of the house. Slowly she looked around thinking that maybe they were out, but then she remembered that she had seen her mothers car, and she would not have been able to get anywhere without it. They lived too far out to be able to walk anywhere.

Walking over to the stairs, she heard a sound from above. A loud crash followed the sound. She proceeded cautiously up the stairs feeling the first feelings of doubt settle in her stomach. First she went over to her little sisters bedroom, expecting her to be sitting on the floor and playing with her dolls like she usually did but she wasn't there.

The light was on but there was nobody in.

She then went to her bedroom deciding that maybe they had gone out in her mother's car in a rush, and that was why all the lights were on, but deep down she knew that this was not the case. Then she heard the crash again.

She realised at this point that all of the sound was coming from her mother's bedroom. She heard a scream from within and took a quick step backwards just as the door came crashing open. The scream that was just about to come out of her mouth was stopped mid flow when she saw her mother being dragged out by a man in a baseball cap and dark clothing. He paused as he saw her and her mother looked up at her with frightened eyes. Her mother was covered in blood and Rae could tell that she was hurt by the way that she winced as he struggled with her. With a quick move of his fist he threw her to the side. She didn't get up again.

Rae's breath was coming out in short gasps now. She wanted to see if her mother was alright but she could not move.

She could not see the mans face as he walked towards her, as it was covered by shadow but then when he was almost in front of her he looked up and this time she managed a scream. She had to cover her mouth to hide the hysteria that was spreading through her.

His face was twisted and contorted in a mixture of love and anger, but all the same she could still recognise him. It was Richard Newman.


	2. First thoughts

Richard

The first time they met was in his art class and he knew that it was love at first sight.

Her name was Rae Simone Delaney and she was seventeen years old.

She had looked so fragile and dejected sitting there all by herself that he could not help but feel pity for the beautiful girl that was sitting in front of him.

He was most amazed by her pale skin, so white that it almost looked transparent, and her bright green eyes. Her light blonde hair complimented her skin tone, but at the same time it made her seem even more pale and delicate.

A sudden urge overcame him to reach out and touch her skin, to see if it was as smooth as it looked.

He knew that it was forbidden; he wasn't stupid. She was a student and he was her teacher. He should have known better, but he could not help himself.

During the first lesson that he had with her, he did not speak to her, instead choosing to watch her from a distance whilst helping other students.

He noticed several things about her just by observing her.

First that she was a very good artist. The drawing of a rose that she had completed was of a very high standard, and he could even go as far to say that she was the best in his class.

Second was that she was very modest and shy. When one of her class mates complimented her on her drawing she simply blushed and mumbled thanks in reply. He also noticed that nobody bothered to start a conversation with her despite the fact that there were several people sitting on the same table as her.

The final things that he noticed were the pale pink, almost unnoticeable scars that adorned her lower arm and wrist. Although she wore a grey long sleeved shirt, when she drew her sleeves would rise up slightly revealing the marks.

To him it was a wonder why nobody else had noticed them, but looking around he started to think that maybe they had.

The guy that was sitting opposite kept giving her little looks that made Richards teeth grind together. The guy was looking at her as if she was some kind of freak.

He barely made it to the end of the class, without going over there and hurting him. It would not help if he got into a fight with one of his students on his first day at work.

That night when he got home all he could think about was Rae. The way her eyes narrowed slightly as she concentrated on the art work before her. The way her hair fell in front of her face, almost as if it was a curtain hiding her from the rest of the world.

He wanted to get behind that curtain. He wanted to find out who that shy, beautiful girl really was. He wanted her, and he would stop at nothing to get her. For him it was starting again and he was helpless to stop it.


	3. Inevitable loneliness

Rae

They hated her at school, she knew it.

Everyday that she came to school she started to notice it more and more. It had started with cupped hands and whispers whenever she walked down the corridor, but it had slowly changed into more. Now when she sat in lessons people would give her funny looks and stare at her arms. Once someone had even grabbed her and tried to pull up her sleeves so that they could see her marks.

Needless to say she lashed out at that person, therefore getting herself into trouble which was rather unfair. However it did mean that she got the rest of the day off school so that she could go home and continue reading her books.

However the situation at home was no better then at school. In fact it sometimes felt like it was worse.

She lived with her mother, father and her little sister Louise. To the outside world they may seem to be a normal family, but they were in fact the complete opposite.

Her father had depression whilst her mother was an alcoholic. However her father's depression was something that was linked with her mother's alcohol problems. Whenever her father had one of his 'bad days' her mother would usually start drinking, almost as if she was escaping from both of there problems. These days would always end in an argument between her parents, in which plates and glasses would be thrown and one of them always ended up hurt. Once her mother had even scarred her fathers hand when she had thrown a glass plate at him.

When herself and Louise were younger, and these days came along, they used to hide upstairs together and play card games so that there parents wouldn't get angry at them.

But that was then, and things had changed. Now that Louise was fourteen she had started going out with her friends as a way of escaping home life. It wasn't so easy for Rae.

Rae found it difficult to find friends, especially after the 'incident' as it was so commonly called. This meant that she was usually at home when her parents argued, which also meant that she received the brunt of there anger.

They had never gotten violent towards her, but they verbally abused her, and she often had to watch whilst they threw things at each other in front of her.

The books that she read at home were the only release that she got from the arguments and her life in general.

She also enjoyed drawing, although she did not rate her skills very high.

And that was what she was doing now, drawing that is, although unfortunately it was in school and she was surrounded by the bunch of morons who were also known as her class mates.

**I've decided that this is all I'm going to write until I get at least one review as I don't see the point in continuing if nobodies reading :) If people like it then just post a review and I'll happily continue. x**


	4. Strange looks

**This chapter is dedicated to 'Bianca Mora,' 'stillstanding13' and 'Nekomimi XD.' Thanks for reviewing! The next chapter should be up later on. Peace \o/**

Rae

The rose that she was drawing looked bland and lifeless, so she picked up the red watercolour pencil and tried to make it look more realistic.

Art was the only lesson that she enjoyed because it was a time when she could absorb herself in her work and finally relax.

However today they had found out that there old teacher Mr Farrow had resigned after finding out that his wife had cancer. Instead we had a new teacher, whose name was Mr Newman.

She soon found out that Mr Newman was quite a strange man.

Throughout the lesson she found his eyes seemed to be constantly flitting back to her, and although it crept her out she ignored it, choosing instead to concentrate on her work.

It wasn't that Mr Newman was ugly in anyway. In fact he was extremely good looking.

He had dark brown hair which was pulled up into a small ponytail. She guessed that it would fall to his shoulders when loose. His face was angular and his eyes were warm brown. He was tanned and she could tell that he had muscle underneath his shirt.

She, however, found it hard to guess his age. From a quick glance alone she would say that he could not have been more then twenty five, but as the lesson progressed and she looked at him more, she thought that perhaps he was older then that. After all he had lines on his face that no man under thirty would have.

She realised that although he was looking at her a lot, she also seemed to be doing the same to him, so she started to block out the surrounding area, instead concentrating on her drawing of a rose even more then before. She soon became entranced in the rose she was working on, the rest of the sounds around here fading out into an unimportant buzz of meaningless.

However after a few minutes she felt a sharp pain on her leg and she looked up, her senses coming back to her in a swirl of colour and sound.

The sharp pain came again and she looked under the table to see that the guy sitting opposite her had just kicked her.

She looked across at him and scowled, but he only smirked back at her. She did not many peoples names in her class, let alone this annoying idiots name in front of her. From past experiences she had learnt that learning people's names was pointless, as she would never get close enough to anybody to care.

When he tried to kick her again she angled her chair so that instead of kicking her he kicked the chair leg instead.

She smiled as he grunted in pain.

A soft Irish voice sounded from in front of her. "Is everything okay?" She looked up sharply to see Mr Newman leaning over the desk in front of her.

She was startled by his proximity and the way that he was looking so intently into her eyes.

Up close she could see every line and crevice on his face. His jaw was so sharp.

For some reason, in her minds eye she pictured him reaching out to touch her and she mentally recoiled.

Pushing away from him slightly she finally managed to get her thoughts together to form a coherent reply. "It's fine. He just accidentally kicked the table."

He looked quickly at the jerk opposite her, but his eyes quickly switched back to her.

His eyes were disbelieving and the way that they were staring at her made it seem as if he was trying to communicate something to her. She just couldn't work out what.

She tried to smile at him, but she was sure that it turned out more like a grimace. However he left with a nod of his head, going to help someone else.

Resisting the urge to sigh a sigh of relief she picked up the red watercolour pastel and continued colouring in the petal of the rose, the voices of the other students fading back to an insignificant whisper.

She only came 'back to earth' when she saw that everybody around her was packing up. The bell must have rung without her realising it.

She swiftly picked up her art work and placed it in the cupboard along with everybody else's work.

Mr Newman was walking around and picking up peoples watercolour pencils, so she left them on her table and walked towards the door.

At the same time Mr Newman walked past her. She could have sworn that he moved closer to her, his fingers twitching, almost as if he wanted to reach out and touch her.

She walked out of the art room that day feeling spooked and confused.


	5. Vodka inspired memories

Richard

When Rae left the art room that day he already missed her. From that first meeting with her, he already imagined there future together.

He knew that it was not right to be thinking like this, but the thoughts were so strong that he was hopeless to resist them. Maybe he was crazy or maybe he was just a man who fell in love easily. Either way he wanted her more then anything else.

He did not go home straight after school that day, instead staying in the art room and admiring the work that she had left in the cupboard. He loved the fact that she had a talent for art. It made him feel like they had something in common. It was a good starting point for him.

When he did eventually leave, he did not go straight home. Instead he drove around a bit, trying to collect his thoughts. He even attempted to forget about her by blasting some loud metal through the speakers, but even the angry lyrics of System of a down could not erase her from his memory. Some of the lyrics even reminded him of her, reminded him of things that he wanted to do to her. He closed his eyes briefly against the thoughts.

Reaching his home, he was almost disappointed as he saw the same bland and lifeless house that he had gotten so use to seeing. Even after fifteen years of living there he still felt no attachment to it. The walls were white and boring. He never had the time or the effort to paint them. Ivy grew up the side, and there were weeds in the small front garden

His existence seemed petty, but he knew that _she_ could change that for him.

Once inside he reached towards the cabinet that had saved his life on many occasions. He poured out a big glass of vodka and lay down on the sofa. He did not turn on the television. He did not want to be distracted from his thoughts about the beautiful girl.

The drink burned his throat, causing him to sigh in pleasure.

The swirling mass of thoughts in his head gradually started to settle down as he drank glass after glass of vodka.

The alcohol always had a different effect on him, then to other people. It made him think better, instead of making him incoherent and drunk. The alcohol soothed his brain, making him relaxed.

If someone was to look on his life from the outside world then they would assume and state that he was an alcoholic because of the amount of alcohol that he would consume. Sometimes he could get through half a bottle of vodka in one night. However he did not think of himself as an alcoholic. Despite the vast quantity of vodka and whisky that he would consume, he did not feel addicted. He could have easily given up, yet sometimes his thoughts would get so bad that the vodka was the only thing that he could cling to. It was the only thing that was real. It made the bad thoughts go away.

Vodka was something that he had drunk from an early age. His father had often willingly given him a glass of two when he was in a good mood. However the good days were rare.

His father had been a depressed alcoholic, and although Richard had promised that he would not end up like his father, he felt himself slipping ever closer. Not to the alcoholic part of his father, but to the depressed part. That was how he often referred to his father, in two parts. They were the only bits of him that he ever got to see.

When he was depressed he would both lash out and hurt people around him or he would just sit in the corner and cry.

When he had drunk alcohol he would be more happy, and would often talk to Richard or if he was lucky give him presents. Despite this, Richard preferred his dad when he was depressed. His father did not know him, so when he did attempt to talk to him he would often ramble on about things that happened in his life, instead of truly trying to understand his son.

Richard hadn't realised how good alcohol could make you feel until he started drinking it regularly five years ago.

He sighed again as the clear liquid slipped and burnt down his throat.

All of a sudden a haziness and sleepiness overcame him, and he felt the glass slip from his fingers and fall to the carpet with a soft thud. His eyes slowly closed and sleep surrounded him.


	6. Undeserved pain

**Sorry about the wait. I was busy with ... stuff. Haha. This chapter's quite short but I'm getting to a good bit! Hopefully the next couple of chapters will be up quicker. Thanks again for the reviews. X **

Rae

Rae had had several art lessons that week, yet she still had not gotten use to Mr Newman.

He was always staring at her, and his eyes were so intense that they made her feel awkward and uncomfortable. She was however good at blocking out people around her, which meant that she still enjoyed her art lessons.

However things at school seemed to be getting harder and harder for her. A week after her first art lesson with Mr Newman, three girls 'ambushed' her as she walked home from school. She had seen all of them around school, so she recognised there faces, but she did not know any of their names. They were often talking about her, and trying to trip her up as she walked around school.

All three of them had dirty blonde dyed hair, with there skirts hitched up to there thighs. There faces were plastered in make up, and they had so much fake tan on that they looked orange. They were typical sluts. Of course she did not voice this out loud, instead choosing to try and walk past them as they sat on the wall.

Nevertheless they stood up, standing in front of her in a line so that she couldn't walk past.

She avoided looking any of them in the eye, instead staring at the ground at there feet, as she came to a stop.

However a sharp blow to the jaw caused her to fall backwards. She gasped in pain as she held her chin in her hands.

Looking up she saw the three of them smirking down at her.

A surge of anger went through her and she stood up, her fists clenched, intending to punch one of them back but they advanced towards her again. Instead of getting punched again she took a step backwards, trying to avoid them.

"You gonna hit us?" one of them asked, her voice brittle and nasal.

Rae didn't answer her question, instead taking another step back.

"Aw. Look. She's scared of us," the same girl said again, causing the other two to shriek in laughter. Rae realised that she was the one who was in charge. She therefore assumed that she was the one who had punched her.

"I'm not scared," she said defiantly, trying to keep her voice calm. Her jaw was still throbbing and aching.

The three of them stepped forward as one, and the girl who was in charge reached forward and grabbed Rae's hair, pulling hard.

Rae cried out, more from the shock of it then the pain. Her fingers scrabbled desperately at the girls arm, trying to stop the girl from hurting her, "Let go of me!"

"Look at the freak trying to get away," they laughed, "I thought she'd enjoy the pain."

She felt hot tears start to fall down her cheeks; despite the fact that she knew that this would only make them even more riled.

However she was saved from being hurt anymore when footsteps started coming towards them. The girls let go of her hair and started to run away. However Rae knew by the look in their eyes that they were not finished with her.

The footsteps continued round the corner and she gasped when she saw who it was.

The man stood before her, his face filled with concern and his hair blowing slightly in the wind.

"Mr Newman?"


	7. A helping hand

Richard

Richard had been keeping an eye on Rae ever since he had first met her. After all she was so fragile that he was continually scared that somebody would hurt her.

He had heard and seen that people in the school seemed to have something against her, although he could not for the love of him think why. She was perfect in every way.

However one day when he was in the staff room he listened into a conversation that two staff members were having about Rae. Richard did not know what there names were as they worked in different departments, but the conversation that he overheard chilled him to the bone.

"... bullying seems to be getting worse, but she still doesn't talk to anyone about it," they were saying when he first started to listen in.

"Well, it has to be expected. Her father's depression is getting worse, and as for her mother. Let's just say that whenever I've seen her at the supermarket, it's often hard to get a sensible word out of her. That alcohol is ruling her life. They both need help if you ask me."

This had made Richard grind his teeth together. He did not care that they were talking so harshly about Rae's parents. It was more because of the thought of Rae having to live at home with parents like that. It reminded him of his childhood, and it made him feel sick to his stomach. He did not want her to live like that.

However the conversation had continued, "Maybe they all need help. I know that after Rae tried to kill herself they made her see a physiatrist, but maybe she needs long term help as well."

Richard's mind had shut down after this. She had tried to kill herself. His beautiful Rae had tried to kill herself...

Suddenly it all seemed to make sense. The marks on her arms, the way that people would give her strange looks.

He'd had to get up and leave the staff room, and sit in his car for a while afterwards. His thoughts were a mess. The words that the two teachers had said kept spinning round and round in his head, until he thought that he was going to be sick. What kind of things must she have had to live with if she tried to kill herself?

He eventually did return to school for an art lesson with some sixth formers, but his head was all over the place and he could not concentrate. He could tell that some of the students were giving him strange looks but he did not care.

When he left school for home that day he knew that he was going to have to do something. He would make plans, and he would somehow save her from the mess that she was in.

That was why when he found her it seemed like it was almost destiny.

He had been driving slowly down the road, trying to keep his thoughts on happier things, when he heard a woman shouting. Whoever she was she sounded like she was in pain. Not one to ignore a damsel in distress he immediately parked the car and walked towards the source of the noise.

A smile almost went to his face as he recognised Rae. However before the smile could completely fill his face the more intelligent part of him saw that she was sitting on the floor, and was holding her chin as if in pain. He also saw that there were three girls running away. His facial expression immediately turned to one of concern.

He took a step towards her, every bone in his body resisting the urge to run towards her and wrap her up inside his arms.

She must have heard him coming because she turned around and looked up at him, her face filled with confusion. "Mr Newman?"

This decided it for him. He walked forwards until he was in front of her and then knelt down.

"Rae? Are you okay?" he asked. He so badly wanted to reach out and touch her.

Her voice was shaky. "I-I'm fine."

His eyes searched hers and he could tell instantly that she was lying. He could also see that she was starting to look scared, so he spoke to fill the uncomfortable silence that she no doubt would be sensing. "What happened?"

She did not speak for a moment and he could tell that she was mulling something over in her mind. When she finally did speak her voice was decisive as if she had made her mind up about something. "I tripped and knocked my chin on the ground."

He frowned down at her. She wasn't very good at lying.

If she had not been looking so scared right now then he would have reached down and checked her injuries, but he did not want to make her any more frightened.

Instead he stood up and reached out a hand. She took it albeit hesitantly.

The first thought that went through his mind when he touched her was how cold she was. The second thought was that this was the first time that he touched her. He was going to treasure this moment.

She let go immediately once she was on her feet, but although the contact was only brief it made his heart race in his chest.

Neither of them said anything for a while and he could tell that like him she was thinking about something. He was however thinking what would constitute being a caring teacher. After all he did not want to seem too forward with her.

"Would you like a lift home?" he asked eventually.

Her eyes widened slightly, and he wondered if he had been too forward.

Shockingly she eventually nodded after some thinking.

"My cars up there," he said, indicating up the road.

She nodded and together they walked up the road, although he struggled with not staring at her.


	8. Purposely wrong

**I know that this is another short one, but I find it a lot easier to write chapters for Richard then for Rae. I promise that I'll try and get some more about her in the next one though. X**

Rae

Five minutes after the incident with the three girls and Rae was sitting in Mr Newman's car.

As she sat there she wondered what had possessed her to get in the car with him in the first place.

When he had found her on the floor she had felt scared and confused. He freaked her out so much, and it just seemed to sum up her day in general that he of all people would find her.

After he had asked her whether she had wanted a lift home, she had automatically wanted to say no, but the more she thought about it the more sensible it sounded. Although the girls had run off they might wait for her and try to hurt her again, and she didn't think that she could handle anymore. She was both physically and mentally exhausted.

So when Mr Newman had asked her she had said yes, and that was why she was now sitting in his car.

They had driven up the road to a petrol station so that he could fill up the car, and at the current moment he was inside paying.

To pass the time she looked around the inside of the car, trying to find as much as she could about him.

There was no child seat in the back so she assumed that he had no children. There were also no cigarettes or rubbish on the floor, which was rare in a man's car. She assumed that he either didn't use his car or he was just a very tidy man. She went for the latter.

Her eyes went back to the front however as she saw him come out of the small shop, and walk back towards the car.

He smiled at her as he stepped back into the car and slammed the door shut behind him. She did not bother to try and return the smile, and his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"Where would you like me to drop you off?" he asked.

She thought about it for a while. "Could you drop me off at Horsham Avenue?" she asked.

He nodded and started up the car.

Horsham Avenue was not where she lived (although it was only a few streets away from her road) but she had several reasons for not wanting him to drop her off outside her house. The first was that she did not want him to know where she lived. Despite the kindness that he was showing her, he still scared her slightly. She knew that it was slightly irrational and paranoid of her, but she would sleep a lot better at night if she knew that he did not know where she lived.

The second reason was that she was scared that her parents would ask who he was. Her parents knew that Rae did not have many friends and if she was dropped off by Mr Newman then they would immediately be suspicious. Of course she would tell them the truth and say that he was a teacher, but she had a feeling that they would not believe her.

Overall it would be better if she was not dropped off in front of her house.

As they drove she gradually noticed that he was listening to music. She smiled slightly as she noticed that he was listening to slipknot. "You listen to slipknot?" she asked, her voice revealing a hint of amusement.

He looked at her and she saw that he was smiling widely back at her. "Yeah. I love bands like that."

She nodded almost knowingly. 'Interesting,' she thought to herself.


	9. All too soon

**Yay. I'm on a roll tonight :) I might be able to put up another chapter before I go to bed tonight... although I should be doing my art coursework... *shuffles nervously***

Richard

Richard found it slightly comforting to have Rae sitting in the car next to him. She smelt of roses and cherries and he discretely inhaled it as they drove. He had always hated sitting in his car with the seat next to him unoccupied. It made the whole car feel hollow and made him feel personally lonely. With her there, however, the whole car seemed to be filled with light. When thinking this he realised how strange it was, but he could not help the way he thought. He knew that he was not normal after all.

Although she had given him an address when he had asked, he knew that it was wrong. The way that she had paused before answering was a giveaway. She was a terrible liar. However this was one of the things that he liked about her. He liked knowing when she was lying or not. It made him feel even closer to her.

When she had asked him about the music that he was listening to, he felt even happier. He had not known that she had liked Slipknot when he had put in the CD. It was just a coincidence that she did. On the other hand the more he thought about it, the more it seemed like destiny. They must be made for each other.

Although they had been driving in silence, it was not the awkward silence that he was used to when around her. It was more comfortable.

However he knew that he had to ask her what had happened back there. "What really happened before I found you?" he asked.

Her eyes instantly went to her lap. "I told you what happened."

"Well I don't believe you."

She looked up at him and scowled slightly.

He resisted the urge to laugh, knowing that it would only anger her. She could not look angry even if she tried. She was too beautiful and good hearted for that.

She sighed when she saw that she figured that he was not going to say anything. "It was just some girls." He expected her to continue but she did not, so he waited for a while until she scowled again and continued. "One of them punched me in the jaw, okay?"

He struggled to control the anger in his voice. "Why?" he asked.

"They... they don't like me. No one does."

The words that she spoke were simple, but her voice was tragic. His heart clenched in his chest and once again he had to resist the urge to comfort her.

He wanted to drop the subject, not wanting to hear her sad voice again, but she had just started talking to him and he did not want her to clam up again.

"Do you know who they were?"

He did not expect an answer so he was not surprised when she stated that she did not know there names. However he saw that she was telling the truth this time. He thought about the question that he had asked and changed it.

"What did they look like?"

This time when she said that she did not remember he knew that she was lying. He did not pursue the matter anymore.

They sat in silence again for the rest of the journey.

Although he had made sure to go the long way, all too soon they were at Horsham Avenue.

"Is this okay?" he asked, trying not to betray the sorrow in his voice.

She looked up and down the road, only confirming his thought that she was lying about where she lived, and then nodded.

She reached forwards and opened the door but before she got out she turned around and looked at him. "Thanks for the ride Mr Newman."

When she stepped out of the car she waved to him and he knew that he was expected to drive away so that she could continue walking home. He did not disappoint.

As he drove away he stared at her small figure in the rear view mirror, until he had to turn the corner.

He continued the drive home to his house, surrounded in a deep sadness.

The smell of her perfume still lingered, but instead of comforting him, it instead intensified the loneliness.

When he did eventually reach home, he automatically went to his trusty liquor cabinet. Instead of taking out the usual bottle of vodka he instead searched around for a bottle of whisky that he had had for a few years now.

When he found it, instead of pouring himself a glass he opened the bottle and took a big gulp straight from the bottle itself. Tonight he needed to be on best form.

After today he needed Rae with him even more then before. Tonight he had plans to make.


	10. One big mess

Rae

When Mr Newman drove away she could see him staring at her from his rear view mirror, as she waved. It seemed stupid to her that she was waving, but she knew that it was expected of her.

As she started the short walk home, she realised that she was slightly intrigued by Mr Newman. He had been listening to Slipknot who just so happened to be her favourite band. She could not however see whether it was a coincidence or not. After thinking this she realised that she sounded paranoid.

It was not as if Mr Newman was stalking her and he could not have known her favourite music. Just because she thought that he stared at her a lot did not mean that he was crazily obsessed with her.

She realised that she was at her house and she stopped. A sudden urge to flee overcame her as she looked up at the place that she had called her home for so long.

It was not the house itself that scared her though. It was more about what was waiting inside.

Because it was a Monday she knew that her father would be in one of his bad moods, which was a reason why she was so wary of going in the house. However she knew that she could not wait outside all night so she walked up to the house and opened the door, trying to keep herself calm.

She did not call out, knowing that if her mother was hung-over then she would not appreciate it.

Instead she took off her jacket and hung it on the coat hook, before taking slow and quiet steps towards the living room.

Although she did not want to see her parents at the present time, she knew that they would get angry if they did not see her.

When she entered the living room the first thing that hit her was the smell. Vodka. Vodka was her mothers poison as she so often put it. Mixed in with the vodka was the stale scent of puke,

Her mother was sitting on the sofa, her bleached blonde hair draped in front of her face in big wet clumps. She looked around expecting her father to be there, but he was not in his usual place on the sofa.

She walked closer to her mother, until she was standing above her. "Mum?" she asked softly, not sure whether she wanted her to wake or not. All the same her mother did stir. Rae touched her mothers arm, flinching slightly at how cold she was.

To warm her up she turned on the electric fire that sat in the middle of the living room and placed it in front of her mothers bent form.

Her mother lifted her head up slightly and smiled a lopsided smile at Rae before her head flopped back down and she settled back down in her drunken stupor.

Rae sighed softly before leaving her mother and closing the living room door softly behind her.

She was worried by this point. Her father must be in a really bad mood if her mother was this drunk.

However she knew that she could not go to her room before she knew that her father was well.

She found him in his study, staring out of the window at the cars and people below.

"Dad?" she asked, her voice just above a whisper.

Expectedly he did not answer her. He didn't even react to the sound of her voice.

"Dad. Come on. You need to get up." She wanted to touch him so that he would react, but she was scare that he would lash out as he so often did.

"Go away," he said, so softly that she would've thought she'd imagined it if not for the moving of his lips.

She contemplated what to do for a brief moment, but soon came to the conclusion that it would be best if he was left alone. Nevertheless she left the door open so that if he needed her she would hear him.

When she got to the room she resisted the urge to collapse on her bed. The events of today had exhausted her both mentally and physically. She needed to relax her mind and at the moment sleep scared her. She was certain that she would have bad dreams. Instead she sat down at her desk and took out her notebook filled with drawings. Turning to a blank page, she picked up a pencil and pressed the pencil hard into the paper so that it was now blunt. Sharp pencils were so much more difficult to draw with.

She was not sure what to draw so she placed the pencil against the paper and let her mind wonder.

Strangely the first thing that came to her mind was Mr Newman's warm brown eyes. She felt a slow blush spread up her cheeks as she thought about his intense gaze.

She was still confused about what to think about him. He was very handsome, she already knew that, but he was so much older then her. It was most certainly wrong to be thinking about him. After all he probably had no desire for a seventeen year old school girl. She realised how pathetic she was and placed her head down on the desk, trying to stop her thoughts.

When she finally did lift her head from the table a wave of anger consumed her as she looked at what she had drawn.

Before her lay a roughly drawn picture of Mr Newman's angular face.

She crumpled it up quickly and hurled it into the bin, before throwing herself on the bed and trying to stop the sobs that overwhelmed her.


	11. Making plans

**Just thought I'd thank everyone for the reviews :) So... thanks! You guys rock! \o/**

Richard

That night he got drunk as usual, although it was on whisky instead of vodka.

He preferred the taste of vodka, but the whisky burned his mouth more and kept him awake.

He stayed up late that night, planning things that he was going to do. Sometimes he would write things down or make a phone call, but most of the time he sat there with the bottle of whisky in his hand, occasionally taking a mouthful of the fiery liquid.

In the background he was playing some Slipknot as it now reminded him of Rae.

He thought it strange how such a nice and sweet girl could like such violent music, but he still liked the fact that they now had more then one thing in common.

When he felt the effects of the alcohol start to slowly work its way through his system he stopped drinking and started to concentrate on the pieces of paper in front of him. The first was a map of America with all of the main roads labelled. He marked several of the routes that he was planning to take. The second was a list of numbers of his old work colleagues. He had only circled three of them though, as these were the only ones who had offered to help him. The third piece of paper was a flight ticket for one. No return ticket was needed. The final and most important piece of paper did not hold anything but an address for a small town in Texas. This still needed to be confirmed.

He mulled over these four pieces of paper for a while, as well as a small notebook filled with notes until he was certain that he knew what to do.

By this time the alcohol had slowed down his system enough so that he could close his eyes and gradually drift to sleep.

* * *

He was awoken abruptly by the sound of the telephone ringing. He reached out blindly, his eyes still half closed against the harsh sunlight streaming through the window.

Remembering that he had placed the phone on the kitchen counter last night, he stumbled blindly over to the counter and picked it up.

"What?" he rasped. He coughed, clearing his throat and repeated his question.

"The house that you wanted. It's all sorted now."

These simple words made Richards heart jump with joy, even through his hung-over state.

He hung up not needing to say anything else to the man on the phone. They had made a mutual agreement which meant that they now both had what they wanted.

His smile lessened slightly as he realised that his head was throbbing and every sound seemed amplified. His throat was dry so he poured a glass of water from the sink and gulped it down quickly, taking a handful of aspirin with it. His mother had always warned him about the effects of taking to many over the recommended amount of aspirin but he had not listened to he when she was alive, so he was damned if he was going to listen to her advice when she was dead.

For the time being the aspirin did nothing to help his head, but he knew that it would eventually kick in.

"Shit!" he gasped as he saw how late it was. He only had half an hour to get ready for work.

He ran around like a mad man (which was an analogy that he seemed to use a lot) trying to make himself look presentable.

The stubble around his face wasn't too bad today so he did not bother shaving. Also he was not sure whether he would be able to shave without cutting himself in the shaken state that he was in. The alcohol always seemed to have that effect on him the morning after.

When he was dressed in the cleanest and least rumpled shirt and trousers that he could find, he ran out of the door (locking the door behind him) and unlocked his Land rover.

He threw his bag in the back and started up the car, reversing wildly out of the driveway.

He shoved several mints and sucked on them as he drove to school.

Despite the rude awakening and the fact that he had been forced to rush, he knew that today was going to be a good day and it would all be because of Rae.


	12. Drunken happiness

Rae

That night Rae could not get to sleep.

After she had managed to drag her mother to her bed, she had wrapped a blanket around her father knowing that he was not going to move.

Even though she was exhausted, she lay up in bed for a long time, only having her dark thoughts as company. She knew that if she did eventually drift off to sleep the dark thoughts would manage to get into her dreams as well.

Instead of laying there and trying to sleep, she figured that she would find something to help her sleep without giving her the nightmares.

When downstairs she looked through some of the medicine cupboards but there only seemed to be sleeping pills. She thought about taking some of them, but they had no dosage use on them so she left them, just in case they were dangerous.

However when looking in the small cupboard by the television she found a stash of her mothers alcohol. Her eyes lit up as she realised that she could kill two birds with one stone. If she drunk enough then not only would the bad thoughts go away, but she might eventually pass out as well. She took a couple of bottles of her mother's cheapest sherry upstairs with her along with half a bottle of chardonnay.

She had quite a job to carry it without making any noise, but she made it to her bedroom without waking anyone up.

Deciding to start with the sherry she took a hesitant sip straight from the bottle. She'd drunk alcohol occasionally when she had been in the mood, but this was the first time that she had tasted sherry. She usually preferred to drink beer and cider. However she was pleasantly surprised when she tasted the sweet alcoholic drink. She took a bigger sip and smiled as it slipped pleasurably down her throat.

Within a few hours she had drunk most of the sherry and all of the chardonnay, and she was feeling extremely tipsy. Her head was swirling with colours and a jumble of happy and completely random thoughts.

At the moment she was lying on her bed and swinging her arms back and forth. She had forgotten why.

She thought that the alcohol would have had a more depressive effect on her so she was pleased that it had instead made her deliriously happy.

At some point in the middle of drinking the rest of the sherry she must have passed out because the next thing she knew her mother was shouting at her to get up. The noise echoed around her head, seeming to be three times louder then it was.

She groaned and moved slightly, only to be overwhelmed by a sudden rush of nausea.

Quickly she ran to the toilet, only just making it before she threw up.

She heard the door open behind her, but she was too busy trying not to get her hair in the sick to notice.

"Rae!?"

She groaned as her mothers voice caused her head to throb. The effort of trying to lift her head up was too much so she left it resting against the cold toilet seat.

"What?" she murmured.

"Have you been drinking?" her mother asked.

Rae giggled, "What a silly question to ask." She was clearly still drunk.

All of a sudden her head was lifted forcibly from the toilet seat and she was thrown backwards against the wall.

If she had been sober then she might have realised that this was the first time her mother had touched her in a while, but she was to drunk to be thinking such things.

She opened her eyes slightly, her vision blurry and distorted. However she could make out her mothers angry face looming above her.

Rae wondered how her mother could look so steady on her feet after she had looked so bad last night.

"Why is it dark?" Rae asked suddenly, after looking outside. Why would her mother have shouted for her in the middle of the night?

Her mother's angry face turned to one of sadness and worry. "It's your father. He's gone missing."

**Argh! It's another short one again. I'm sorry, I just can't seem to write long chapters.**

**You guys must think I'm an alcoholic or something. All I seem to write about is alcohol, but I'm not obsessed with it. Honestly :) I just think some people can have an interesting relationship with alcohol.**

**On a different note: all of my art coursework is due in a few days (Boo!), so I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up. I'll try and write as much as I can in my lunchtimes (as that's all I ever do anyway) and try and get some more chapters up as fast as I can. **

**Anyway I hope you like :)**

**X**


	13. Sobering news

**I've got the day off school today, so hopefully I can get up a few chapters :) X **

Rae 

After her mother had told Rae about her father going missing, she had instantly sobered up.

"Missing?" she asked, her voice slow. "What do you mean missing?"

Her mother had started shaking. "After you put me into bed, I went to go and check on your father to see if he was alright." She held out a piece of paper to Rae, her fingers trembling slightly, and Rae took it. "I found this on his desk."

She read it, her eyes taking in the words desperately.

'I need to get out of this. They're watching me... always watching me. Maybe if I leave then they won't hurt you. Don't try and contact me. You'll just get hurt. I love you both. Robert x'

"What's this meant to mean?" Rae asked.

"I don't know. His paranoia... it's been getting worse lately. He's been saying that there has been someone watching him, trying to harm him."

Rae thought back to earlier on when she had seen her father staring out of the window. Maybe then he had been looking out for the person who he believed was out to harm him.

"What's the time?" she eventually asked her mother.

Her mother looked surprised at the change in conversation, but she answered her nonetheless. "It's five fifteen am. When did you last see him?"

She thought back. When she was walking back to her room with the alcohol she remembered that the door had been closed, despite the fact that she had left it open on purpose. At the time she had not thought anything of it, but now it seemed important.

Before Rae could answer her mothers question she had to ask a question herself. "Was the door open when you went to check on him?"

Her mother thought about it. "No, it was closed."

"Then the last time I saw him was at around eleven."

Tears filled her mother's eyes. "There's so much damage that he could have done in six hours."

Rae didn't want to think about it. "We need to call the police."

"No!" her mother practically shouted at her, making Rae jump. "We can't call them. Not yet. What if they take him away from us?"

Rae thought about it as well. "We need to start looking for him then. If we haven't found him in a few hours then we need to call the police, okay?"

Her mother nodded and left the room, her body still shaking.

Once she had gone Rae sat on the bed and buried her head in her hands. Why did everything always have to be so complicated? Yesterday had been bad enough and then she had to wake up to this. Half of her wished that she had more alcohol to drink, but the other half knew that she had to be calm if she was going to find her father. Luckily Rae always seemed to listen to her sensible side, so instead of drinking the rest of the sherry that she could see lying on the floor, she went downstairs and joined her mother.

At the moment her mother was on the phone. She assumed that she was either talking to some of dad's old friends or another family member.

Instead of sitting around and waiting for her mother to finish the call, Rae decided to go through her fathers papers to see if there were any clues as to where they could find him.

Her father had a job, but he worked from home. Rae didn't know exactly what he did, but she knew that it was something to do with selling products over the internet. This was why when she looked through all of the papers; many of them were to do with internet sites such as Amazon and various sites that she had not heard of.

After her mother had finished the call she helped Rae for a while.

"Have you called Leila's parents yet?" Rae asked her mother as they worked through the documents. Leila was a friend of Rae's little sister Amy and that was where Amy was staying at the moment.

"I've called them, but I've told them not to tell Amy anything. Not until we know for sure that he's truly missing."

The conversation ended at that and they worked in silence for a while. Eventually however they realised that they were not going to find anything by looking through his papers. Instead her mother picked up the phone again and started to call around, whilst Rae decided to take a more practical and heads on approach.

She placed on her black jacket and zipped it up tightly, before leaving the house to search for her dad in the places where he usually stayed.

While she walked up the road, she thought about all the places that her dad used to take her when she was a kid. It had been a regular thing that when she was little, he had taken her out every Saturday. Sometimes they would go to watch a movie at the cinema, or they would go swimming, but more then often they would end up at the park. It had always been there favourite location. But then her father had gotten depressed and paranoid and he didn't take her out anymore. He just used to sit at home and stare out of the windows for hours on end.

Rae felt tears trickle down her cheeks, but she wiped them quickly away. She needed to concentrate on finding her dad, instead of feeling sorry for herself.

An hour later and Rae had gotten nowhere. She had checked all of the places that her father liked to hang out, but hadn't found him.

When returning home she found that her mother had also had no luck.

"You need to call the police, mum," Rae had said, the moment she saw her mothers disappointed face.

She nodded sadly and walked back into the living room.

Rae meanwhile decided to go and get something to eat and drink, despite the fact that her stomach was tense with worry.

She fixed herself and her mother some toast and orange juice. However she only managed to eat a few bites before she felt as if she couldn't eat anymore. When her mother joined her, she didn't even touch her food, instead just drinking her orange juice. At one point she tried to sneak some vodka into her drink, but Rae snatched it off her and placed it back into the cabinet.

The police arrived half an hour later. They introduced themselves as PC Beth Cooper and PC Jack Meadows. Rae could tell that they were doubtful as to why they had been called to this house.

After Rae's mother had explained the situation to them both, PC Cooper asked if she could see the note. The note was handed to her almost hesitantly by Rae's mother.

Once PC Cooper had read it, she handed it to PC Meadows and they both shared a knowing look. "We'll start searching for your husband immediately Mrs Delaney, but you have to know that if we do find him, then he will probably need some psychological help."

Helen nodded. She knew that this was going to happen, but she needed to be prepared.

Rae walked with the police officers and her mother to the door, waving them off.

Once back inside she told her mother that she was going to sleep, before walking off upstairs. She knew that her mother would start drinking, but at that present moment in time she did not care. If her mother wanted to drink then there was nothing she could do to stop her.

Rae didn't realise how tired she was until her head hit the pillow. She knew that there was no way that she was going to go into school. Not after today.

From downstairs she heard the phone ring, but by this point she was too sleepy to get up. Within a few minutes she was fast asleep.


	14. Final preparations

**This one is really, really short I know, but I needed to add this small bit in somewhere and I felt that it needed to be 'told' by Richard. Plus I needed the next bit to be 'told' by Rae. X**

Richard

It was the day after he had decided to go along with his plan, and everything was ready. The night before he had finished up the final touches, but for once he did not drink. His body had been shaking and aching from the lack of alcohol, but he had his reasons for not drinking. It meant that now he was not hung-over, which meant that he had a clear head. Everything needed to be thought out in perfect detail; otherwise he risked the chance that he would be arrested or something worse, something unimaginable.

His mind went back to the task that he now faced. Everything was sorted and ready, apart from one little detail. He phoned a familiar number and waited until somebody answered. Her sweet voice sounded after only a few rings. "Hello?"

He wanted to say something to her, but his Irish accent was too familiar. After he did not say anything for a while Rae repeated her question. "Hello?"

He hung up, not being able to bare the sorrow in her voice. However it was not long now till they would be together.

Pressing a few more buttons on the telephone, he dialled his friend. "She's home. You can call now."

After hanging up he placed the phone back in its handset, before picking up his rucksack. He made sure only to pack the barest essentials, as he didn't want his bag to be too heavy. Most of the stuff that he needed was at the other place anyway.

His car was already parked and running round the back and he headed towards it. There was nothing that he could do now but wait.


	15. Taken

Rae

When she first woke up, it took her a while to remember what had happened. When everything came flooding back she felt slightly overwhelmed. 'Fuck this' she eventually thought and got up out of bed. She was determined not to be in a bad mood today.

She decided to have a shower as she felt dirty and she knew that it would help her mood.

The scalding hot water helped to soothe her nerves. As the water cascaded down her back she felt her muscles began to relax, and she sighed out loud.

Turning off the water, she stepped out of the shower cubicle and picked up a big white towel. She wrapped it around herself and went over to the wardrobe to pick out an outfit. She was unsure of what to wear. Not because she did not have any clothes to wear, but more because she didn't know what would be counted as suitable to wear today. She eventually picked out a light grey cardigan with a white tank top, along with a pair of denim shorts.

When she was dressed she went downstairs to check on her mother and to get some breakfast. The sight before her did not surprise her. Her mother was laying on the floor in her own vomit. The room stank of whisky and puke, and it made Rae gag.

"Mum?" she asked, walking over to her still figure and kicking her gently with her foot. Her mother groaned, but otherwise made no indication that she was going to move.

"For god's sake," she muttered, before placing her hands underneath her mother's arms and dragging her over to the sofa. Her mother made no attempt to help her, which only made it more difficult for her.

Once she had eventually placed her mother on the sofa, she went and got a mop and bucket to clean the sick off the floor. She was just grateful that there floor was wooden and not carpet.

After she had cleaned it all up, she decided that she did not want breakfast after all.

Before she could think about what to do with her mother, the phone rang.

"Hello?" she asked. Nobody said anything, but she could hear someone breathing. "Hello?" she asked again. A beeping sound indicated that they had hung up.

She shrugged her shoulders and went back over to try and wake her mother up. However before she could even attempt to rouse her mother the phone rang again.

She was in half a mind to ignore, but she thought that it might be important. She soon found out that it was. "Is this Mrs Delaney?" she was asked after she had said hello.

"No, this is her daughter."

"Oh, well this is DI Stone. We have some news about Robert Delaney."

"Have you found him?"

His voice faltered slightly, "I think it would be better if you came down to the police station."

Rae hesitated, looking down at her mothers limp form, "Would it be okay if I was to come alone. My mother isn't feeling so well." It wasn't exactly a lie after all.

"Of course," he said, and she thought that his voice seemed slightly happier. She however ignored it, putting it down to her imagination.

"I'll be there right away." She hung up without saying goodbye. She wanted to find out what they had found out about her father.

Hurriedly she wrote a note to her mother saying where she was going, before grabbing her bag and leaving the house.

She thought about taking her father's car but she figured that it would be too much hassle, and anyway the fresh air would do her good. She was preparing herself for the worst after all.

Because she was walking so quickly, she was not taking in her surroundings, which was why she did not notice the man following her until she had walked down several roads.

Her first thought was that she was paranoid, but when she turned left the man followed her as well.

As she turned another corner she looked back and tried to take in as much as she could about his appearance. He had on a baseball cap, and he was wearing black trousers and a dark blue jumper. However she could not see his hair or eye colour, without him knowing that she had seen him. Instead she kept her eyes to the floor and walked a little faster.

However she soon realised that he had no intention of leaving her alone. She looked left and right, trying to see if there was anybody around who could help her, but the streets were deserted.

She saw an alleyway ahead and was about to head towards it, when she saw another man come out from it. At first she was going to go and ask him for help, but he was staring at her in a way that made her uncomfortable. He was not here to help her.

By this point she had given up on trying to act like she didn't know they were following her, so she started to run.

Footsteps behind her indicated that they had started to run after her.

She had lost all sense of direction, so she ran towards where she thought there was a main road. She just needed to find someone who could help her.

However as she turned a corner a car came screeching towards her, stopping just in front of her. She was forced to grip onto the bonnet of the car to stop herself from falling over.

She attempted to try and run away again but hands grabbed her roughly from behind.

She kicked and struggled, trying to get free but whoever was holding her was strong.

Another man came out of the car and walked towards her. She could see something sharp and glittering in his hand, and her first thought was that it was a knife, but looking closer she saw that it was a needle. She didn't know which one she would have preferred.

As he got closer to her, Rae kicked out at him but another man reached forwards and grabbed her feet.

She was sobbing as he pressed the needle into her arm and pressed down the plunger. Her whole body went limp as the cold liquid started to seep through her body.

Her surroundings were becoming blurry and distorted as they carried her over to the car and placed her in the back.

The last thing she saw before the darkness consumed her was a man's smiling face looking down at her, his eyes filled with a sense of achievement.


	16. Sorting things out

Richard

He received a call off of his friend after only ten minutes of waiting. They had taken less time then he thought.

Starting up the car, he drove off to the place where they had arranged to meet. When he got her he could start his life again. He would be different. But he couldn't do it without Rae.

The factory was dark and there were no signs of life. He had gotten there earlier then them it seemed.

Before he got out of the car and met them he took the gun from the glove compartment and placed it into the waistband of his jeans. He knew that it was loaded as he had loaded it himself last night. He had been sure to wear a jacket, so that he could cover the bulge that the gun caused.

When getting out of the car he did not bother to lock the door behind him. There was nobody around at this time of night to steal it anyway.

He had been told to wait by the front door of the abandoned factory and that was what he did.

A few minutes after he had been waiting, he saw the deep glow of headlights from around the corner.

He stood more to attention and placed his hands in his jacket pockets. This way he could reach for the gun more easily if he needed to.

When the car stopped in front of him, three men got out. He assumed that Rae must still be in the car.

He walked up to the one man that he did know, his friend Jason, and shook hands with him. Richard had met Jason at work... well its proper name was community service, but Richard did not care about such petty differences. He was after all still 'working.'

"Is she okay?" Richard asked.

"You can check yourself," Jason replied, indicating to the car.

He leant in slightly and saw Rae lying in the back, seemingly unconscious. She looked paler than usual and she had huge circles around her eyes. However he knew that this was because of the situation at home, and not because they had done this to her. He wanted to reach out and touch her, to really make sure that she was okay, but he wanted to wait until Jason and his friends had gone.

He nodded at Jason and reached into his rucksack for the money. As he handed it to Jason he noticed that the two men were armed, just like he was.

Jason counted the money carefully, but seemed dissatisfied or uncertain because he flicked through it again and recounted. He looked up at Richard, his eyes narrowed.

"There's only two thousand here. Where's the money for the car?"

"What do you mean the money for the car?" Richard asked, his voice rising slightly.

"You're going to take away this car away as well. It cost me at least a thousand pounds. I'm not gonna let you take it away for nothing. So give me the fucking money."

The two men next to Jason shifted slightly and there hands reached for there guns.

"I haven't got the money." Richard was trying to be calm, but his eyes were frantically flicking between the two men.

Jason reached into the car and pulled Rae out. He put her unconscious form in front of him, and pressed the gun against her head.

Richard lost it. "Fucking let go of her!" he shouted, and pulled the gun out of his waistband.

He shot Jason twice in the head, and watched as he fell to the ground.

The two men reached for there guns but they were too slow. Richard shot both of them head as well and watched as they fell dead to the ground.

The gun fell from his shaking hands. There was blood everywhere.

His first thought was to look after Rae, and he ran towards her, pulling her out from underneath the bloodied body of Jason.

He cradled her against his chest and sobbed. She was covered in blood and he wiped a hand over her face, trying to get rid of as much of it as he could.

Picking her up carefully, he placed her in the back of the car. He needed to be quick, in case she woke up. He needed to get rid of the bodies.

Starting with Jason's body he started to drag him towards the warehouse, leaving a trail of blood. When he had been waiting earlier he had seen a large skip outside and that's where he planned to put the bodies.

It took him longer then he had expected to dump all of the bodies into the skip, but eventually he did it. Before he could set alight to the skip, he knew that he had to somehow get rid of at least some of the blood on the ground.

He looked in the boot of the car and was pleased to see that they had done what he said, and had placed some clothes in the back. Picking up a couple of t-shirts he tried his best to clean up the blood on the floor, before placing them into the skip alongside the bodies.

He also took the spare petrol can that was in the boot and poured it on the bloodied bodies and t-shirts that now occupied the skip. Then he took a match from his pocket and threw it in, watching as the contents immediately set on fire. The air was filled with the smell of burning flesh and petrol. He breathed it in, making sure that he remembered this moment.

When he walked back to the car, he saw that Rae was twitching slightly. He knew that this meant that within half hour she would be awake. Therefore he needed to tie her up.

Taking the rope from his backpack he gently but firmly tied some rope around her wrists. He knew that this would hurt her when she woke up and struggled, but it could not be helped. She would thank him when she understood why he had done it. He was going to make her life better.

Before he started the car, he kissed her lightly on the cheek. This day was going to change everything for him. Today was just the beginning.

As he drove off he could see from his rear view mirror the flames flickering into the sky from his skip of burning corpses.


	17. Attempting escape

Rae

She could smell copper. Why the hell could she smell copper?

When she tried to open her eyes she had to close them again because of the bright sunshine blinding her.

What had happened to her? She thought back, past the confusion that fogged up her mind. She remembered someone grabbing her arms and the sharp prick in her arm.

'Shit.' A flood of memories came back. The man staring down at her, running away from the two men and then the car. The sharp pain in her side was proof of the car whacking into her side.

She heard a noise from in front of her and she became aware that somebody else was with her. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she opened her eyes again, squinting against the harsh sunlight.

It took a while for her eyes to get adjusted, but eventually she started to pick up on certain things. She was in a car. That much was obvious. When she tried to move she also found out that she was tied up. There was somebody sitting in the seat in front of her.

As she looked down at herself she felt a wave of nausea run through her as she saw that she had blood on her t-shirt and shorts. Why the hell did she have blood on her?

Whoever it was must have noticed her moving because they turned around and looked at her, despite the fact that they were driving. She felt a stab of shock run through her as she looked upon the person whose car she was tied up in the back of. It was Mr Newman. Her mouth tried to form words, but her brain seemed disconnected and she couldn't get them out.

His eyes were carefully taking in her expression, and he seemed almost satisfied by her reaction.

She struggled to get up without the use of her hands, but hissed in agony when a sharp pain went through her side. When he saw that she was hurt he pressed his foot to the brake and the car to a came sudden stop.

She went flying forwards and ended up on the floor of the car.

He got out of the car and opened the door, reaching towards her.

She flinched and used her feet to push away from him, scared about what he was going to do. He was unpredictable to her now. She watched from a distance as his face fell.

"What do you want?" she whispered to him.

"I want to help you." He looked so serious.

She gave a humourless laugh, "then untie me."

He looked down at her and there was something in his eyes that made her think that he wasn't all there. "I don't want you to escape. I love you."

She stared back at him, her eyes wide with shock and confusion. "You barely know me, how can you love me?"

His eyes grew dark, "you'll understand soon." She didn't like the sound of that.

He reached forwards and tried to grab her again but this time she was more prepared. Her foot lashed out and hit him straight in the face, causing him to topple backwards.

While he had been talking to her she had managed to open up the door behind her. As she opened it fully she fell backwards onto the road below and she winced as the gravel dug into the bare skin on her legs. However she could see that he was starting to recover from the kick to the face so she quickly got herself up. It was considerably hard with her hands behind her backs but she managed.

The moment that she was standing steadily on her feet she started running. A few times she almost lost her balance, but she kept going, the adrenalin shooting through her veins.

There was nothing there for her to see. Nobody there who could help her. She was in the middle of nowhere, but she kept running in the hope that he wouldn't come after her. She was so naive.

Thudding footsteps sounded behind her and she ran faster, her breath coming out in short gasps. Tears were falling down her face, from both fear and pain.

Suddenly she felt rough hands on her back and she fell forwards. Her face scraped against the gravel on the floor as she fell and a warm wetness spread across her cheek.

She was gasping for breath as he grabbed her and turned her over.

His face was a mix between anger and concern. "Now look what you've done." He reached forward to touch her face, even though she flinched away. His hands came away covered in blood.

For a moment his hand disappeared and he reached into his pocket for something. When his hand came out it had a needle in it.

She sobbed some more and tried to move away from him, but he grabbed onto her and held her still.

The needle pressed into her arm, but before all of the liquid had even gone she had passed out.


	18. Confusion at its best

Richard

'He had Rae. He had the beautiful girl whom he had yearned over for the past few weeks.'

These were the thoughts that he repeated in his head as he drove down the road.

After she had kicked him in the face and tried to run away he had had no choice but to drug her again. Luckily she had not made him bleed and he doubted whether it would even bruise. It was more from the shock itself that he had fallen over.

She was so stupid, running away from him that. He had not meant to hurt her anyway, but she had still managed to get hurt. And on her beautiful face as well. It was very lucky for her that she had not grazed her face too badly. Hopefully the pale, soft skin on her face would be perfect again in no time.

He sighed deeply and looked at the unconscious form next to him. He had placed her there so that he could keep a closer eye on her.

Her head was slumped over to the side and she would've looked almost peaceful, if not for the grazing on her face. He had tried to clean it up as best as he could, but he only had a small cloth that had been in the glove compartment.

He knew that the marks on her face would cause him problems later on, but he could not think about that now. For now he needed to concentrate on the here and now.

It would take him another four hours to get to the house in Texas, although he had already been driving for three hours. However after the attempt at an escape from Rae he knew that he could not afford to stop again. He just hoped that he could stay awake for that long.

The road ahead was empty as he had made sure to take routes that many people did not know about. Sure, it took longer, but it meant they were safe. However he was getting slightly annoyed at the repetitive green and brown blurs of the trees that flashed past him.

Next to him Rae fidgeted slightly and he knew that she had gone from the stage of being unconscious to the stage of merely being asleep. Although he did not want to see her frightened eyes he longed for her to wake up. It felt wrong, her being next to him without saying anything. He loved to hear her sweet voice.

Half an hour later, her eyes flickered open for the second time that day. He smiled at the sight of her familiar green eyes.

She looked around confusedly for a moment, but her eyes met his and he could tell that she was remembering what had happened.

A soft groan escaped from her lips and he looked down at her worriedly.

"Rae? Are you okay?" he asked.

She looked up at him and her eyes seemed almost shocked. "Of course I'm not okay."

"I'm sorry for what happened to your face Rae, but you shouldn't have run off like that."

"My face?" she spluttered, her eyes filled with disbelief, "What about the fact that you've taken me or kidnapped me or whatever the hell you want to call it? What about the fact that I'm fucking tied up?"

He looked down at her, his face filled with shock. She was angry, and that was the first time that he had heard her swear.

For a while he thought about how to answer her, but he eventually found out that he did not know how. "I need to get you away from them," he said, his eyes glued back on the road ahead. It wasn't answering her questions at all but she couldn't have been expecting that anyway.

"Mr Newman... I don't understand."

"Call me Richard."

She looked at him, almost frustrated, despite the tears that he could see building up in her eyes. "Alright, fine. I don't understand, Richard."

He looked down at her and his jaw clenched. "I'm taking you away, somewhere where you can't be hurt."

"I don't want to go anywhere," she whispered, "I want to go home."

"To a place where you're abused by your mother and father."

"I'd hardly call it abusing," she replied, but she turned away from him and hid her face as she spoke.

Sighing, he concentrated on the road and let her think for a while. He could tell that she was confused and angry and he had expected that, but he hadn't expected her to be so sad about leaving her family behind.

"Does your face hurt much?" he asked to break the uncomfortable silence that had filled the car.

"Yes," she replied simply.

He pressed down carefully on the brake and the car came to a slow stop.

She looked up at him a question on her face, but he did not say anything to her.

As he reached past her towards the glove compartment she cringed away from him, but he ignored her. He sighed an internal sigh of relief as he saw that there was indeed a first aid kit.

"I need to clean the graze on your face more thoroughly," he explained to her.

She did not look happy at this, but she was sensible enough to know that the wound could get infected if not cleaned thoroughly

Taking out an antiseptic wipe he reached forwards and held her face gently in his hands. She gave a gasp of pain as the wipe first touched her cheek but she was brave and did not make another sound as he cleaned away the remaining blood and grit from her face.

As he worked he noticed that her eyes were kept down. She was too embarrassed to look at him. How sweet.

Once he had finished he placed the wipe in a plastic bag and threw it into the backseat of the car. He looked in the first aid kit to see if there was anything else that he could use, but he did not think that a plaster or a bandage would be needed. It would probably be better if the air could get to the wound.

Rae didn't say anything so he started up the car and continued driving.

However just as he was about to reach forward to put on the radio she whispered a thank you.

He did not reply to this but a small smile formed on his lips. Finally, he had done something right.

**As this is my first story and I'm new to this site, I was wondering if there was a specific amount of chapters that I'm allowed for each story. Or am I just being stupid by asking that? I'd be grateful if someone could let me know either way. On another note thanks for the reviews and the story alerts etc :)**


	19. Overwhelming anger!

**Thanks for the reviews and answers to my question. Here's another chapter. For some reason this took me a long time to write... not sure why. Also, I might be a bit slower in updating in the next couple of days and weeks because I have exams. Not good! Anyways, I hope you like. :)**

Rae

She was trapped. The doors of the car were locked as were the windows, her arms were tied and she was too drowsy to do anything even if she could.

Richard (as he had asked her to call him) scared her, she could not deny that. He seemed to think that he was in love with her or something. He was certainly acting very strangely.

At the moment they were sitting side by side in the front of the car, as when she had woke up (for the second time) she found that she had been placed in the passenger seat. She assumed that it was so he could keep an eye on her but she wasn't so sure. After all who knew how a madman thought?

It was only now that the drugs had started to wear off that she realised how surreal the situation was. Her arms were tied behind her back, her face was grazed and sore, and most surreal the man sitting next to her was completely calm, despite the fact that he had kidnapped her.

Of course he was not the man who had actually done the dirty deed himself. Maybe he thought she would hate him more if he had actually taken her himself. However at the moment she couldn't hate him anymore then she already did.

The anger that was scorching through her body was so foreign to her that she was not sure how to express it. At the moment however she was sorely tempted to hurt Richard in some way, but it would be extremely hard to seriously hurt him with her hands tied behind her back.

So, instead she chose to sit there in silence and stare daggers at the road ahead.

He must have noticed how angry she was because he kept quiet, which was an extremely wise decision.

The silence was so taut and tense however, that after an hour of it she was the first to break it. She also had several questions to ask, although if she was going to be truthful to herself, she was scared to ask some of them.

She thought of what question to ask first. "Where are you taking me?" she eventually decided on.

When she asked it, he jumped and looked down at her. He had obviously grown accustomed to the silence. "To a house," he said simply.

"A house," she repeated.

He nodded.

She had to bite down hard on her lip to stop the rush of anger that overwhelmed her.

"I've angered you?" he asked, as he watched her.

"Yes," she replied through gritted teeth.

His eyes were filled with concern as he looked at her, but this only made Rae even angrier.

She was about to say something else to him but a phone started ringing. This didn't seem to surprise Richard as she thought that it might have, and instead he calmly took a mobile phone out of his pocket and placed it against his ear. "Hello?" he asked.

Rae couldn't hear what the other person on the phone was saying but Richard kept glancing at her and agreeing what the person was saying.

While he was busy she started to wriggle her hands about in an attempt to loosen the rope. She had to resist the urge to wince as the rope cut into her skin, but she was determined to get free.

After a brief conversation he hung up and looked over at her, and she stopped moving her hands. His eyes were filled with guilt and Rae knew that the next thing he was going to say would not be good. She was right. "I need to drug you again."

"No!" she shouted at him, struggling against the ropes.

His eyes were cold as he looked down at her. "I can't let you see where you're going. It's either that or I put you in the trunk."

Tears started falling down her cheeks as she thought about the overwhelming sense of helplessness she felt when she was drugged. "I don't care where we're going, honestly. Just please don't make me go to sleep again."

Despite the tenderness that he had shown towards her earlier, and the fact that he had said he loved her, his eyes were now filled with an anger that scared her senseless.

"You will do as I say," he said as he stopped the car.

He got out of the car and came round to her side, yet instead of sticking a needle in her straight away like she expected him to do; he reached forwards and picked her up. She was so shocked by this that she did not struggle as he took her round to the back of the car.

By holding her tightly against his body he managed to open the trunk of the car with one hand.

Surprisingly gently he placed her on her feet, and she stood next to him and watched as he took out several items of clothing from the back.

He then took out a knife from his trouser pocket and told her to turn around.

She gasped a sigh of relief as the knife cut through the ropes and she moved her hands around a bit to get the blood circulating better.

Richard stared down at her and his eyes said that if she moved he would not hesitate in coming after her. He handed her the clothing and told her to change into them.

She stared at the shorts and long sleeved t-shirt that he had handed her. "Now?" she asked.

He nodded and continued to stare at her. A slow brush crept across her cheeks as she realised that he expected her to change in front of him. She also realised that she was expected to change in the middle of the road. However she was glad to see that at least the road was empty.

Seeing as he was not going to turn around she decided to instead.

As quickly as possible she took off her bloodied clothes and replaced them with the clean ones that he had given her. All the time she was trying not to think about the pleasure that he was sure to be getting from this.

'I'm glad that I wore my nice underwear.' She blushed as that thought went through her head. What a stupid thing to think.

When she turned around to face Richard she saw that he looked almost embarrassed and shameful of what he'd just asked her to do. However as he saw that she had turned around, his facial expression quickly turned to one of anger again. How quickly this man changed emotions...

She saw that Richard now held a needle in his hands and she felt a shiver of fear run through her. She'd always hated injections and this was the third one that she'd be given today. Her hatred for him intensified.

Although she thought of running, she quickly disregarded this stupidity. It was pointless trying. She would not run again until she was certain that she could escape from him.

This time as he stuck the needle into her, he was gentler so that she almost didn't feel it. How nice of him.

She stood there groggily for a moment as the drugs started to spread round her body, but soon they kicked in properly and she felt her feet give way beneath her.

She smiled through the drugs as she felt Richards catch her. 'What a nice man' were the last words that she thought through her drugged state.


	20. A tad more complicated

**Yes, I know I said that I'd take a while to update, but when I got home I just couldn't be bothered to revise, so I decided to write instead. What a rebel I am :)**

Richard

"When can you meet up Robert?" he muttered angrily into the phone.

"I can meet you in around an hour. Meet me at the petrol station that we agreed on before, Kay?"

Richard thought that this was too late, yet he did not say this to Robert. He was after all helping him and without his help he would have nowhere to take Rae. "Okay, see you then."

Now that Rae was unconscious again he had taken the opportunity to get out of the car and stretch his legs, as well as sorting out the finer details of his plan.

He hated to keep drugging Rae, especially as he knew that she was scared of needles but he had no choice. The call earlier had spooked him out and he had not wanted her to see him when he was angry. It had been the man who he had hired to keep an eye on how things were going back in Canada.

Apparently the bodies had been found with traces of his hair still on them, which meant that they had instantly linked it to him. The bodies had been found still burning, only an hour after Richard had driven off, which meant that they had time to put out the fire before the bodies were completely destroyed. He would have laughed at the thought of somebody finding a skip full of burning corpses but his humour seemed to have waned slightly at the thought of being caught by the police. With the police now searching for him he knew that it was going to be much more difficult to look after Rae.

Luckily for him though Rae's mother still hadn't reported her missing, although her father hadn't been found either. He didn't think that the police would link Rae's disappearance to him anyway, but he still wanted to get as far away as possible before they found out that she had gone.

Now that he had phoned Robert and sorted out the details, he decided that he might as well start driving, as he wanted to reach the petrol station as soon as possible so that he could meet with Robert. It was convenient also that he needed petrol anyway, which gave him the opportune motive to stop.

Before he started to drive off again, he looked back to check that Rae was okay. Upon seeing that she looked fine he started up the car and drove off down the road.

* * *

An hour later and he was sitting in the small restaurant that was next to the petrol station, with Robert opposite him. They both had cups of black coffee in front of them.

He had been forced to place Rae in the trunk a few miles up the road, but he knew that she would not wake up for another few hours. They would be in there new home when she woke up anyway. He still felt guilty though.

However he was forced to leave his thoughts of Rae behind, as he had to concentrate on the conversation that he was having with Robert.

Richard had met Robert a few years ago whilst doing community service but they had kept in touch. It was almost exactly the same circumstances in which he had met Jason, except Robert was an old man who had been caught using counterfeit money. And anyway, Richard was using Robert for a legal matter.

Robert reached into his pocket and took out a small key ring which held only two keys. He handed it to Richard. "Here are the keys to the house. There's both the back and the front key there."

"Thanks for this. You don't know how much I appreciate it," Richard said as he slipped the keys into his jacket pocket.

Robert sipped his coffee before answering. "It's no problem. The house is just sitting there unused, so I might as well let you use it for a while. Well, that is at least until you can get set up with your girlfriend." His bright blue eyes twinkled and he smiled warmly at Richard.

Richard had been forced to lie to his old friend and say that he was going to live there with his girlfriend. He'd had to lie because he knew that Robert would eventually find out that there were two people living at his old house. It made sense if he lied to him now, so that he would not get suspicious in the future.

Nodding his head, Richard took a large sip of his coffee. Right now he was dying for some alcohol but he would wait until Robert went before buying any. He had always scalded him for his drinking habits.

Richard and Robert talked for another ten minutes about what they had gotten up to in the past few months (of course Richard had lied about most of the events that had happened) before Robert finished his coffee and stated that he had to get back to work. Richard thanked him again before watching as his friend walked out of the restaurant and got into his old, beaten up Volkswagen, before driving off.

Before Richard could leave however he went into the petrol station and bought a small bottle of vodka. He was longing to buy a larger bottle and drink himself calm, but he knew that he could not drink that much whilst driving.

Once he was back in the car and out of sight, he opened up the bottle and downed it in three large gulps. He felt the familiar warm, burning sensation spread through his stomach and throat, and a smile came to his lips. It was almost the first time that he had felt happy since he had started this all. Although he had been happy once he had gotten Rae, the emotion had soon faded as everything had gradually become more complicated. Plus Rae was always unconscious (albeit because of him) which meant that he could not talk to her, like he loved to do.

He was in an awful lot of trouble and he just hoped that he could get out of it.

"Only half an hour to go and then we'll be in the house and everything will get better," he said aloud to himself as he started up the car and reversed out of the parking lot and back onto the main road.


	21. In the middle of nowhere

**Thank you so much for the reviews! Special thanks to 'Beza J.', 'trickterstink' and 'stillstanding13' :) It's great to know that you all like my story so much. You guys give me the push that I need to write :) So once again, thanks!**

Rae

When Rae first woke up she thought that she must have been in a dream. She could feel the soft sheets of a bed underneath her and she could smell waffles.

Once she had opened her eyes that it was in fact not a dream, and that she really was lying on a white bed with the smell of waffles wafting around her. However the room that she was in was not hers, so she knew that everything that had happened before was still real.

The room that she was in had cream wallpaper (covered in purple flowers) and oak furniture. There was a wardrobe, as well as a small desk and a chest of drawers.

All of a sudden she didn't want to get out of bed. She wanted to lie in bed and pretend that none of it had ever happened. She wanted to pretend that she was back home with her mother lying drunk and passed out on the sofa. Anything was better then the truth that she was currently living in.

She would have gone back to sleep, if Richard had not chosen that moment to walk into the bedroom. He had changed into different clothes and he was now wearing a bright red shirt and a pair of denim jeans. His hair was, as always, tied up into a pony tail. "Ah, you're up," he said, a big smile on his face. "I made you some waffles." He handed her a plate with waffles and maple syrup. She placed it on the desk next to her, not feeling very hungry. His face fell but she ignored him, instead choosing to stare blankly at the wall with her knees brought up to her chest.

She knew that he had joined her on the bed, because she felt the bed depress slightly next to her.

"You have to eat," he said softly.

"I'm not hungry."

Suddenly his face came into her view and she could see the dark look on his face. "You'll be staying here for a while Rae, maybe even forever, so you better get used to being around me."

"What's to stop me from escaping? You can't keep me forever, don't be ridiculous."

He stood up agitated at her words. "Look outside Rae. You'll see."

Every inch of her wanted to ignore him, but her curiosity got the better of her and she stood up and looked out of the window. However she cried out in anger when she saw several metal bars blocking the window. She stared angrily at him but he didn't react. "Look outside," he repeated.

She knelt on the windowsill and looked through the gaps in the bars. What she saw made tears of anger come to hers. There was nothing. All she could see were just grey pavement and a dark forest.

"No!" she shouted.

She jumped off of the windowsill and ran past Richard towards the door. She could hear his footsteps behind her but he didn't try to stop her.

Quickly she found the stairs and she ran down them as fast as she could, before finding the front door and yanking it open.

As she ran out to the front of the house, she had to stop as she took in the site before her. It was even worse then she had first thought. Her eyes scanned left and right, trying to find signs of any life, but there was nothing. She was surrounded by forests and pavement, nothing more.

"Where the hell are we?!" she shouted at him, tears of anger still rolling down her face.

"We're in the middle of nowhere." His eyes shined with joy and all of a sudden she lost it.

As she ran towards him she lashed out and started kicking and punching him. However she was still weak and clumsy from the drugs, and he easily stopped her. His fists made manacles over her wrists and he held them tightly against his chest.

Despite the fact that she was sure to have bruised him, he was not angry. "You don't understand, not yet, but you will soon my love."

She started crying and shaking and he held her tightly against his chest, despite her struggling. "It's okay. I'll make everything okay," he whispered into her ear, in a voice that was meant to sound soothing, but sounded more threatening.

Eventually he let go of her and she took several steps away from him. "Let me go," she pleaded. She was trying to make herself sound as sad and desperate as she could, and not surprisingly it did not take much acting on her part to achieve this effect. "You want me to be happy, right?"

He crossed his arms, and she could tell that he was trying not to be effected by her tears. "Of course, but I believe that in time you will be happy here."

"How could I be happy here!" she shouted at him, her anger returning all to quickly. "You've taken me away from everything that I've ever known!"

He didn't say anything but his hands were starting to shake, and she could tell that he was trying to stop himself from getting angry. If she had been in the right state of mind then she would have shut up, but after everything that had happened in the past few days she could not quell the anger that was rushing through her. "You're a mad man and you need help. You must be crazy if you go around kidnapping people and expecting them to be happy with living with you."

She gasped in pain as he slapped her hard around the face. His face, before being angry, was now filled with shock at what he had just done.

Her hand went to her face and she held her cheek in her hands.

"Rae... I'm so sorry-"

Before he could see anything else she ran inside, and went back up to the bedroom. She slammed the door behind her and collapsed against it, before sliding to the floor.

Her cheek felt hot and was stinging from the sharp slap that she had received from Richard. How could he have done that to her? She expected to cry, but no tears would come. He wasn't even worth crying over anymore.

Footsteps sounded from outside, stopping before they reached her room. She knew it was Richard and she expected him to try and enter the room but after a while nothing happened and she assumed that he had gone somewhere else.

The hate that she felt for Richard was so strong at the moment that it consumed her and she had to tighten her hands into fists to stop the rage that ran through her.

The anger quickly transformed into terror at having to be in the same house as Richard. For several hours she sat there with her back pressed up against the door. Her slight form was shaking all the time.


	22. Regrets

**I know I didn't post anything yesterday, so here are two chapters to make up for it :)**

Richard

How could he have hurt the girl he loved? He hated himself more then words could say.

When he had gotten to the house with her he had thought that everything would change, that she would change him. He hadn't expected her to get angry at him. Could she not comprehend the love that he felt for her? He thought that it was pretty darn obvious that he loved her and just wanted to protect her. But when she had called him crazy he had just lost it. He had regretted it immediately afterwards, but by then it was too late to take it back.

When she had ran upstairs he had followed, but he knew that he could not talk to her. She would only become more upset and agitated. So instead he sat outside her room, leaning against the wall. From inside her room he could hear her crying and he had to fight so hard not to go in there and comfort her.

'She hated him.' His breath was taken away from him as he thought this terrible thought. What if she did? How was he supposed to go on if she didn't even like him, let alone love him?

Tears fell down his face as these thoughts swirled around his head. He was embarrassed that he was crying. Men should not cry, he thought to himself. That's what his father had told him. 'Crying is a sign of weakness and weakness is not an option. Never reveal that you are weak.' He could almost imagine his fathers face as he said these words to his eight year old son.

Richard was at a loss as to what to do. He couldn't bring Rae home, not after everything that had happened. She would tell someone about him, and he didn't want to go to jail. Anyway he couldn't lose her now, not when he felt such strong feelings for her.

Fuck this mess that he had gotten himself in. Fuck the feelings that he felt for the girl that hated him so. Fuck everything.

He was so agitated that he went downstairs and searched through the cupboards for some alcohol. Luckily for him he saw that Robert also seemed to enjoy vodka as well, as there were several bottles in the cupboard.

He didn't bother to try and find a glass, instead drinking straight from the bottle.

As he drank he tried to stop the thoughts from whirling around his head by closing his eyes and gulping down as much of the vodka as he could, without being sick. His thoughts became so dark that he couldn't even think properly anymore. Her name kept going round and round in his head. Rae. He could remember the way that she looked at him with hate filled eyes. Rae. The way she looked at him with terror. Rae, Rae, Rae. He just wanted it all to end. He loved her so much but he didn't want to live if she wasn't around, and he knew that she would never love him.

He stood up and stumbled towards the cabinet. His fingers pushed all the medicine aside until he found what he was looking for. Aspirin. Clumsily he opened up the lid and poured the pills into his hand. For a while he stared at them, not sure what he was doing. Did he really want to do this? Did he really want to die?

His thoughts were such a mess that he couldn't catch hold of them to try and work them out.

However before he could even decide a sudden wave of dizziness spread through him and he collapsed to the floor. The pills fell out of his hand and scattered onto the floor.

While on the floor he reached around and tried to grab some of them, but only one was close enough for him to reach out and grab. Although he knew that it wouldn't do anything, he swallowed it anyway. "Dammit," he whispered. He couldn't even attempt to kill himself properly. Could he do nothing right?

He was lucky that when he fell he had kept hold of the vodka, so he continued drinking from it until the bottle was empty.

Instead of trying to get up and get another bottle, he instead lay on the floor and waited for the alcohol to make him go unconscious. He didn't have to wait long.


	23. Making an escape

Rae

Whilst she had been sitting on the floor, she couldn't help but wonder what Richard had been doing. She thought that he would have checked on her by now, and although she was grateful for this, she was also worried. She swore out loud at these thoughts. Why was she worrying about the man who had drugged and hurt her?

On the table there still sat the waffles that he had made for her and although she was hungry, she couldn't stand the thought of moving. What if Richard was waiting for her outside? She realised how paranoid she sounded and decided that maybe it would be good if she moved.

As she stood up she nearly fell over as her muscles tried to remember how to work. Eventually she could move normally again, so she slowly opened the door and peeked outside.

He wasn't there.

She took several cautious steps out and saw that he wasn't in the corridor either. She felt herself relax slightly. However she knew that he must be downstairs somewhere.

When she got to the bottom of the stairs she saw that he was lying on the floor of the living room. An empty bottle of vodka lay next to him, as well as a scattering of white pills. 'Oh god!' she thought to herself.

She rushed forwards and knelt down next to Richard's unconscious form. Her fingers went to his neck and she checked his pulse. Luckily he was still breathing.

Carefully she turned him over and poked him gently in the stomach. "Richard?" she whispered. "Come on Richard, wake up."

He groaned quietly and swatted at her hand away. It was a start.  
"Richard," she said firmly, "Get up." Once again he groaned, but this time he started to move. She had to hold onto him before he fell back down again. "What have you taken?" she asked him.

His eyes flickered open and he stared groggily at her. "Rae?" he murmured.

"What have you taken?!" she asked him. By now her voice was almost at a shout.

"I only took one aspirin, sweetie. I couldn't get to the rest." He giggled at this.

Rae breathed a sigh of relief as she realised that he was drunk and hadn't overdosed. It was wrong to feel relieved about this, she knew that. She should have been wishing him dead for all the things that he had done to her. Maybe she was the one who had mental problems.

"Come on. We need to get you up." Slowly, she lifted him up and started to drag him over to the sofa. Once he was on the sofa she grabbed a blanket from one of the arm chairs and draped it over him. He fell asleep almost immediately.

Rae realised something in that moment. She could escape. This would be the only opportunity that she would get.

For a while she had to think about what to do, but she eventually decided on a plan. First she had to see whether there was a car outside. She couldn't remember seeing one when she ran outside, but then again her mind had been had been preoccupied.

When looking outside she saw that there was indeed a car parked in front of the house. However she had two problems. One, she didn't know where she was and two, she didn't know where the keys where. She decided to deal with the latter first.

Surprisingly it did not take her long to find them, as she found them in the kitchen draw. It seemed that that was a rather stupid place to put them. Oh well. At least it made her life easier.

However finding out where she was, turned out to be a lot harder then she had originally thought. First, she could not find a map. Second, she had been unconscious for the journey so she had no clue at all where they were. He had given her no hints as to where they would be going.

Nonetheless she decided that she would just have to take a risk and drive around until she found someone who could help her.

Before she left, she checked on Richard, just to make sure that he would not choke on his vomit whilst she escaped. She did not want him to die after all.

She decided that it would be good if she had a coat as well, so she took the one hanging on the hook. She assumed that it belonged to Richard.

Once she was certain that Richard would be okay, she walked outside and unlocked the door to the car. She was glad to see that she knew how to control the car, despite the fact that she had not yet received her driving license.

Starting up the car, she noticed how low the petrol was and swore loudly. She just hoped and prayed that it would be enough to help her find someone who would help her.

As she drove along the road she noticed that it was starting to get dark, and she started to panic slightly. What if she got lost in the dark? She tried her best to keep these thoughts to the back of her head. She wanted to concentrate on the positive.

After she had driven for half an hour and still had not found anything, she started to seriously panic. To top it all off a flashing red exclamation mark kept flashing up on her dashboard, to tell her that her petrol was becoming increasingly low.

Once another few minutes had gone by the car made a funny spluttering noise, before completely stopping.

Her heart dropped. Now her worst fear had come true. She was stuck in the middle of nowhere and it was now almost completely black outside.

Only now did she realise how cold it was, and how tired and hungry she was as well. She silently cursed her bad luck.

Deciding that she could not do anything till the morning she scrambled to the back of the car and lay down. She just hoped that Richard did not wake up until late the next day, so that she had a chance to get away.

She wrapped the coat tightly around her as a cold wind swept through the car and eventually fell into a fitful sleep.


	24. But I love you

Richard

He struggled to open his eyes, the alcohol running through his system making him want to stay quiet and still.

He wondered what the time was as he looked blearily around the room. There was no sunshine shining through the windows so he assumed that it was night time.

Gradually his bleary vision changed, and soon he could see clearly again. As he looked down at himself he saw that a blanket had been draped over him. Then he remembered that before he had been on the floor. How had he gotten to the sofa?

Rae, he realised suddenly. Somewhere through his drunken memories he could remember her dragging him to the sofa.

He decided that maybe he should check on her, so he walked up the stairs and knocked on the door to her room. When she didn't answer he knocked again. He didn't want to walk in without her permission, as she would just become either more angry or terrified of him.

However after a few minutes of waiting outside her room, he decided that the urge to see if she was okay was stronger then the want to make her happy.

As he opened the door and looked around the room he thought that perhaps he was still drunk and wasn't seeing properly. Rae wasn't in there. He even walked around the room and checked underneath the bed, just to make sure that she was hiding from him. Pretty quickly he realised that she was not in there.

A small part of him was starting to panic by this point but he ignored it and attempted to look around the house.

Once working out that she was not in the bathroom, kitchen or his bedroom, he knew that she had gone.

Slowly and almost as if in a dream, he walked over to the door and opened it, only to see that the car was not where he had parked it outside.

'Fuck,' was the only thought that went through his head. He wasn't sure whether to be angry, worried or upset. He did know however that he needed to get her back. The car had low petrol and it seemed to be an especially cold night tonight. That and the fact that he did not want her to escape.

Walking quickly over to the small garage that was attached to the side of the house, he pulled up the garage door and turned on the light.

There was the other dark green car that he had not been planning to use. It was after all Robert's car and not his. However he had no choice, he had to get Rae back.

He grabbed the car keys and started the car up before driving swiftly out of the garage.

He did not need to bother locking up the house, or closing the garage door, because there was no one around to try and break in.

Already he had decided that Rae would have gone right instead of left, because to the left there seemed to be only more trees and forests. Unfortunately for Rae it made no difference, because which ever way she turned she would be driving for up to two hours before she came even close to civilisation.

As he drove he realised that he was already starting to become more sober. He wasn't even weaving as he drove at well over sixty mph down the road.

After twenty minutes he came across the car. He could not see Rae sitting in the driving seat, but he assumed that she would either be in the back or somewhere near by.

From out of the glove compartment he grabbed a flashlight and turned it on as he got out of the car, and walked towards Rae's car.

Shining the flashlight into the car he saw Rae's slight form as she huddled up underneath a blanket. She was so wrapped up that he couldn't even see her underneath the many folds of the blanket. He tapped on the window with his flashlight, but she did not react. Trying the door he found that it was unlocked and he opened it up, before leaning over and lifting up the blanket. Too late he realised his mistake, as he saw the coat and various other objects that had been shoved underneath the blanket to make it look like a person.

Before he could even turn around, something heavy and sharp struck his head and he fell forwards into the car. He almost lost consciousness but something was telling him that this would be stupid.

While he turned over he saw that Rae was standing over him. Her eyes were wide and she looked shocked at what she had just done.

"Rae," he muttered, his eyelids starting to droop.

"Richard," she said sadly, and to hear her say his name was something that made his heart swell.

"Don't do it." He knew what she was going to do, and he couldn't cope with that. "Please, don't leave me," he begged, and all of a sudden felt tears fall down his face.

As she watched him cry, tears started falling down her face as well.

"You should have just given me a choice," she said softly, "Maybe things would have turned out different if you'd just given me a choice."

His voice was slurring as unconsciousness threatened to overtake him, but he carried on speaking nonetheless. "But I love you, Rae. I love you!"

She leant forwards hesitantly and her lips pressed up against his ear. Just before he lost consciousness he heard the words that she whispered. "Maybe I would have loved you if the circumstances were different, but this is wrong. It needs to end."

**Oh, oh, oh! I'm so sorry for leaving this chapter like this, but I'm writing the next chapter as I speak. :) Don't worry, I still have quite a lot more to add to this story. I was originally intending to end this story in another couple of chapters BUT I've just thought of a way in which I can make it longer and carry on writing. Yay :) xx**


	25. It's over

**You guys must hate me so much ~Hides from the abuse that is hurled at her~ but its really, really, **_**really**_** not my fault. I was unexpectedly 'thrown' (In a way I s'pose) out of my house so I haven't had access to my laptop for a fair few weeks. That and I've had to do a vast amount of revision for my vast amount of exams that are coming up. :) So I hope you'll forgive me, and I'll try and update more frequently. :) X**

Rae

As Rae looked at Richards unconscious form in the backseat of the car, she felt slightly sick. She'd just knocked out a man twice her size with a rock to the head.

Only fifteen minutes ago she had fully woken up from her fitful sleep. The first thing that had gone through her mind was that Richard would probably wake soon, and then he would come for her. She had been so scared of this thought that she had decided to take off her coat, and make it look as if she was sleeping underneath a blanket that she had found in the back of the car. That meant that if he did come for her then she would have a chance to escape before he could grab her. Her original plan had changed however when he had actually arrived. She had been hiding at the side of the road to when he had driven up.

She hadn't anticipated the anger that surged through her at the sight of seeing him, which was why it had been a shock to even her self when she had picked up the rock and whacked it against Richards head. And now he was unconscious in the car.

Her only problem now was what the hell was she meant to do? She couldn't just leave Richard in the car here. It was extremely cold out and she was scared that he would get ill, especially as no one would be able to find him. However she also knew that she could not go back to the house with him, because by that time he would have woken. She decided to compromise between the two.

She picked up his legs, and after a lot of pushing she managed to get the rest of his body into the car. Then she took the coat and blanket and placed it over him. She estimated that he would be awake in around a few hours time, (or so she hoped) which meant that the clothes and blankets should be more then enough to keep him warm.

She was scared beyond belief. What if he came after her again? Or what if she got lost and could not make her way to civilisation?

However she knew that she could not stay in the car with Richard until he woke up. She wanted to get back home to her parents and sister. Also her father was still missing and she wanted to know if he was safe.

It took her a while to build up the confidence to walk away from him and get into the other car. Starting up the car she took a deep breath before driving past Richard and the car. Taking one last look in the rear view mirror she took in as much as she could about the car and the surrounding area before driving off into the darkness.


	26. One year later

_**One year later**_

Rae

"And how do you feel about this?"

Rae stared into the corner of the room while her Psychiatrists voice filled her mind.

Always the same damn questions. "How do you feel about this?"

Bad. That's how she felt about it. What else did they expect her to say? "Oh, it was great. Everything that happened a year ago was so much fun. I can only hope that this year will be just as exciting."

For a year she had had to deal with the constant questions that various medical people had asked with. That and the police who constantly pestered her.

That dreadful night six years ago she had managed to make it home, not that it had been easy. Somehow she had located the local village, although to be honest after she had gotten off the never ending road that she had previously been on it hadn't been that hard. It had taken a long time though. For over an hour and a half she had driven like a mad woman until she had found the village. She'd never been so grateful to see houses and people, even if there weren't many of them. When she'd gotten out of the car she had almost kissed the ground at her feet.

It hadn't been that hard to find the local police station but it had taken a fair few hours to explain everything that had happened.

The police had been baffled.

They were such a small police force that she was certain that the biggest crime case that they'd come across was the case of the missing chicken from the local farm. Of course the only thing they could think of to do was call the larger police station that was nearby. She was shocked to find out that they were still in California. It had seemed like they were in a completely different part of the world.

"Are you going to go and get him?" she had asked with her voice quiet and almost forbidding.

They'd replied that they'd already sent someone and it was at that point that she had fainted. When she woke up she'd been confused, thinking that she was still with Richard which was why it was a relief to find that she was still in the police station.

"You're safe," they'd assured her, but she'd been doubtful whether she'd ever feel safe again.

They never brought Richard back to the police station, so she'd never had a chance to see if he was okay or not. At the time she had been glad of that small fact but a year later she was wishing that she'd had the chance to see him, just to check if he was okay.

A few days later she had been reunited with her mother and sister but it had been far from a happy occasion. She'd only been missing for a few days but her mother had already called the police to report her disappearance.

However she was told that her father had been found dead, apparently having committed suicide. What with this and everything that had happened in the past few days Rae had broken down. For weeks she sat in her room and refused to eat or talk to anyone. She was lucky that she had given her statement to the police before she had visited her mother because otherwise she didn't think that she would've had the strength to make it.

She was told while in her state of depression and denial that Richard had pleaded guilty for what he'd done and had been put in prison. For how long Rae could not remember as her mind had been elsewhere when they had told her.

At some stage she'd been given a Psychiatrist and had been forced to talk to her several times a week. Surprisingly it helped her, although she would not always tell the truth in sessions.

She'd been asked what she'd felt about Richard and she'd said that she hated him. Simple right? Maybe not so simple. Sure, it was true that she hated him but that was not all she felt towards him. She hadn't admitted to the other feelings that she'd felt for him. Like the kindness that she felt towards him or the way that she frequently worried about him.

However, a year on she felt as if she was finally getting somewhere with her life. Sure, she still had bad nightmares and had some bad days, but nowadays the good days outnumbered the bad.

Together her mother, sister and her had managed to get through the death of her father and they were an almost fully functional family again. Her mother had cut down on the alcohol and had gotten a boyfriend (who she had just got engaged to) and together they had become a much closer family.

Unfortunately she still had to attend the stupid sessions with her Psychiatrist.

"Rae?" She was broken from her reverie by Penny (her Psychiatrist.)

"Hmm?"

"I was asking you how you felt about your mother getting remarried."

"Oh, it's fine. I mean, he's a nice guy. I know he's gonna look after her."

"You don't think it's too quick for your mother to be getting re-married?"

Rae hadn't even thought about this which was why the question shocked her. "No. If he makes my mother happy then who cares?"

Penny smiled at her, "Exactly. It's good to know you feel that way." She glanced at the clock and closed the small book that she kept all her notes in. "Looks like our times up. I'll be seeing you next Monday and you can tell me all about your prom."

Resisting the urge to laugh Rae shook Penny's hand and said goodbye to her. Tonight was her prom night and she was surprisingly very excited. She didn't have a date but together with her friends they'd decided to go in a small group. All girls together and all that. It would be better that way.

Tonight was the night that would bring together all the good things that had happened in the past year. If only she knew how badly things were going to go wrong.

**It's been a while since I've added to this story so if anything's wrong or if you have any criticisms then please tell me :) x**


	27. Dreary months

Richard

'Oh, how the months had passed drearily by without his Rae.'

Richard looked at the line that he had just written in his diary and immediately rubbed it out. It sounded like the start of some kind of love poem. However it was true. The months _had _passed drearily by without her.

Despite the fact that she had escaped and called the police he did not blame her. Love was confusing. He of all people knew that. It was just going to take her a while to realise her feelings for him. Luckily for her he loved her so much that he was willing to wait until she started to understand her feelings and make sense of them.

He just wished that he didn't have to be in prison. The people there were strange and vicious and he definitely did not belong with them. Sure, he was a murderer, just like many of his fellow inmates but his circumstances were different. He had killed for love, not for pleasure.

Of course he had tried to explain this to the jury but they had not explained, simply calling him psychotic. What did they know? They knew nothing of love. They knew nothing of the burning desire that two lovers felt for one another.

No one understands how he feels, only Rae, and even she was confused.

Several times he had tried to post letters to her but they would not let him. They said that he was not allowed to contact her directly or indirectly. Were they intent on torturing him? It was bad enough that he was stuck in a prison, thousands of miles away from her, but to not be able to write to was simply torture. The feelings for her grew stronger every day. So strong in fact that he had resorted to writing them in a diary, just to let some of his thoughts out. One day he vowed to show it to Rae, just so that she knew how strongly he felt for her.

Today, however, he had decided that he would set his plan to escape in action. He could not cope much longer in this hell hole. A world without Rae was a world that was not worth living in. That's why he had decided if his escape plan failed then he would kill himself. No point in living without her.

His plan was simple. For several days he would lay on his bed, facing the wall, all the while ignoring any food that was left for him by the Prison Warden. Then he would kill his fellow inmate with one of the plastic knives. The words seemed cold to him when thought. However he personally thought that he would be doing the guy a favour. Every day he would complain about how hard his life was and how he couldn't wait to leave the prison. Well Richard would be doing that for him. Sure, he didn't think that leaving in a body bag was quite what his cellmate would be thinking of, but still. You can't get everything that you want in life, can you?

_**Three days later**_

It had worked! He had escaped.

Surprisingly it had been easier then he'd thought. Once he had killed his cell mate he had placed him in his bed so that it looked like he was still there. It had been clever to place him there because it meant that it would take them a while to realise who had escaped. He'd then broken through the air vent and had managed to climb through until he had eventually gotten outside. The security guards had been so caught up in looking for his cell mate that they hadn't noticed him slipping past.

He was now driving away in a car that he had 'taken' (so to speak), from a man who'd been driving up to the prison. Now he was driving towards California and he was on his way to Rae. Finally.

He'd taken his diary with him, still thinking that he could show it to Rae. He was certain that she would be glad to know that he'd been thinking about her in his long stay away from her.

Whilst driving he thought about how much she would have changed since he'd last seen her. A whole year had passed, long enough so that she could be a completely different person. Appearance wise he would say that she would have become curvier, or at least he hoped so. She'd been reasonably skinny before, probably from the stress of her family. He personally knew how stressful it could be, living in a home filled with abuse and anger.

In a year she would've done a lot. By now she would've left college and moved on to University. He wondered at what she would have taken. Art maybe? He hoped so.

Either way he couldn't wait to meet up with her again. They had so much catching up to do. When he met her again he knew that it was going to be different. She would love him, he was certain of it. And if not... well, he would just have to persuade her and help her understand her feelings. Otherwise what was the point... in anything?


	28. Soon my love

Rae

Cautiously she stared at her reflection in the mirror, trying to work out whether she looked good or not.

Her prom dress was pretty, she knew that. It had been bought a long time ago by her mother and she had only worn it once. Strangely enough it fitted Rae perfectly. The dress was black and fell just past her knees. It was corseted and laced at the back and she had made sure to tie it tightly. Her shoes were black and high heeled, with ribbons that twisted half way up her legs. She had tried to keep her make up simple by only outlining her eyes in kohl and putting on some light pink lip-gloss. As for her hair, she had left it down but had curled it so that it hung down in her back in shimmering golden curls.

However she still couldn't work out whether she looked pretty or not. It was hard to look at herself through somebody else's eyes.

Eventually she gave up trying to work it out and instead walked downstairs.

As she walked into the living room, where her mother and sister were waiting, she was treated with a shocked silence as they looked at her.

Her mother was the first to break the silence. "Oh Rae. You look so beautiful." Tears of happiness were streaming down her face.

When her mother hugged her, Rae herself had to hold back the rush of emotion that overcame her.  
"You've come so far in the past year," her mother whispered into her ear, before holding her at an arms length and looking down at her. "The dress fits you perfectly."

Once her mother had let go of her, her sister came up and hugged her as well. "You look so pretty Rae," she said.

"Thank you Louise."

From outside came the beep of a horn which indicated that her friends were waiting for her outside.

"Ooh! Are you sure I look okay?" she asked her mother.

"Yes! You look wonderful. Now go and have fun."

She gave both her mother and Louise another hug before grabbing her small clutch bag and walking outside. As she saw the black limo waiting outside she had to cover her mouth to stop herself from screaming. She felt slightly hysterical.

"Oh my gosh!" she cried out to her friends as she ran over to the limo and climbed inside.

As she sat down and closed the door behind her, she was suddenly attacked by three screaming girls hugging her all at once. "Rae!" Rachel shouted at her, being the first to let go of her. Rachel's died red hair had been piled up onto her head in an intricate dress, and she was wearing a light green dress.

"Mind the hair," Rae said jokingly to Jess and both Jess and Sarah let go of her.

"You look amazing!" Rachel shouted, as she looked Rae up and down.

"You too. In fact all of you look amazingly beautiful."

"It's good that we didn't bring any guys with us. They're not worthy of this beauty," Jess said jokingly, flicking her long black hair over her shoulder. They all laughed.

Rae admired Jess's dress. It was deep red, incredibly short and was made from a material similar to satin.  
"Ooh! Rae! Did you bring the mix tape?" Sarah chirped in suddenly.

Rae reached into her bag and took out the cd that she had spent all of last night working on. "Of course. Here you go."

Sarah took the cd from her and carefully placed it into the cd player.

They all screamed, covering there ears as Leathermouth blasted out the speakers far too loudly.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" Sarah said, turning the volume down so that they could hear each other again.

"I love your dress Sarah. Did you make it yourself?" Rachel asked.

Rae looked down at Sarah's dress for the first time and gasped. It _was_ amazing.

Sarah's dress was a deep sky blue with a silver border at the bottom. The fabric stopped well above her knee revealing an awful lot of leg. Covering the top half of the dress were over fifty fabric Roses that Rae assumed Sarah had made herself. Her dyed blonde hair had been kept loose and straight, but she wore a small flower clip to keep her fringe out of her face.

Rae was amazed. "Wow Sarah."

Sarah made a small, high pitched noise which was meant to be her laugh. "Thanks y'all. Yeah, I made it myself. My ma helped me though."

"It's amazing," Jess said, agreeing with what everyone else was saying.

"Hey, come on y'all. We're going to prom! Enough talk of dresses. Let's partaay!"

The music was turned up louder and they all started head banging along to the screaming vocals of Frank Iero.

After a while Jess attempted to stand up and rock out, only to bang her head on the roof of the car as they came to a sudden stop. They all collapsed in there seats, giggling like mad women.

"No!" Rachel shouted suddenly. "We'll mess up our make up and hair. Stay still."

They all froze mid giggle but the sudden attempt at being serious just made them laugh even more and once again they all collapsed in laughter.

As Rae and her friends continued laughing, she realised that she wasn't laughing just at Jess falling over but at everything that had happened in the past year. Never before had things been so good for her and she couldn't believe it. She had three amazing best friends, who she loved more then anything and her life finally seemed to be working itself out. Right now, she had the feeling that nothing could put a dampener on her mood.

A knock on the screen behind which the driver sat sounded and the music was turned down so they could hear what he said. "We're here ladies."

As one they screamed before giggling even more.

"Okay, calm it everyone. We need to look normal when we got out of this limo," Rachel said. She was always the sensible one.

Rae took a deep breath before stepping first out of the limo as she was nearest the door.

"Ohmygosh!" Rae said on one long breath as she took in the scene before her.

The theme for the prom this year seemed to be celebrities because leading into the hotel that they had booked was a long red carpet. A bunch of people were outside, behind velvet ropes and were taking pictures of them. At the moment a spotlight was aimed at her and her friends as they stepped out of the limo.

From behind her she could hear her friend's exclamations of shock.

Rae looked at her three friends, standing in a line in front of the limo and smiled at them. "Well, lets not wait around. Lets go in."

She linked arms with Jess and she followed her lead by linking arms with Rachel, who in turned linked up with Sarah. As one they walked up the red carpet, there hips swaying in time and smiles on there faces.

Rae didn't see Richard. Nor did she see the large smile on his face as he took in the beauty before him. "Soon my love, soon," he whispered to himself, before disappearing into the shadows.


	29. First glances, second time

Richard

"Oh, I'm clever, far too clever," he said to himself as he looked at the poster. 'Gradfelt University Prom' it screamed at him in bright pink letters.

He felt incredibly happy at how well this was all turning out. It was almost as if it was fate.

With the town only having one university nearby, it was not hard to work out that this was the one that Rae would be going too.

What a coincidence that tonight was the night of the prom. It would be the perfect meeting opportunity for them.

It had been surprisingly quick to reach the town where Rae lived.

On the way he had been forced to steal some clothes from a washing line, as he had the feeling that he might stand out if he was wearing the bright orange prisoner clothes.

As he drove to the town his only worry had been that she might have moved house. However, from the financial situation that her parents had been in before, he very much doubted that they would have been able to afford to move. Or so he hoped.

When he'd driven up and parked a few blocks up from her road he'd clearly seen the dark blue car that belonged to her mother parked in the drive, and his shoulders had sagged in relief. He hadn't realised how worried he had been until he saw that she still lived at the same place. If she had moved then he would have no way of knowing where she was, and then he would have nothing else to live for.

After he knew that Rae still lived at the same address he had then driven up to the local shop so that he could buy some much needed necessities such as food and drink.

Outside the shop had been where he had found the poster and their fates had been sealed. There was no way that he could pass up the opportunity to see her in her prom dress. She would look beautiful.

However the prom did not start for a while yet, which meant that he had a couple of hours to kill.

The groaning of his stomach made up his mind about what he would do.

Going into the shop he knew that he had no choice but to steal the food. The man whom car he had stolen from had had a wallet, but he did not have much money and Richard needed to save it for when he found Rae.

He kept an eye on the mirror in the top corner of the shop as he slipped a mars bar, a packet of crisps, a bottle of orange juice and an apple into his jacket pocket. Luckily for him the person on the till was a teenager who was far too interested in the magazine that they were reading to even notice that he'd walked into the shop in the first place.

Walking out of the shop he felt proud of himself. He'd never stolen anything before and he had to admit that it felt good. He had a feeling however that he'd be doing it a lot in the following days to come.

When back in his car he grabbed the packet of crisps out of his pocket and tore greedily into the bag. For three days he had not eaten and he was starving.

Within a few minutes he had finished the crisps, only to start on the mars bar and the orange juice. He decided to leave the apple for later in case he became hungry later on.

He then drove back to his position a short while up Rae's road so that he could wait for her to come out. Now he had nothing else to do but wait so he sunk down in his seat whilst keeping an eye on the house.

An hour later a limo came round the corner and stopped outside Rae's house.

Richard sat up straight, assuming that it would be for Rae.

He was proven right when she came out.

His breath was taken away as he saw her for the first time in over a year. She was so much more beautiful now. Her hair had grown lighter and her skin darker. The black dress that she was wearing looked beautiful on her. It clung to her body, showing off the curves that she now had.

"Oh Rae," he whispered, every part of him wanting to run over there and touch her. He wanted to inhale the scent that he had missed so badly.

Before these thoughts could overcome him Rae got in the car and the limo drove off.

He waited a while before following behind.

When he saw that the limo was about to turn into the road which led to Heathlands Hotel he drove away and parked the car in the car park nearby.

As quickly as he could he ran to the building opposite the hotel and hid in the shadows.

He watched as she stepped out of the limo along with three of her friends. However he was not interested in what they looked like. He only had eyes for Rae.

He smiled as he took in the beauty before him. Soon my love, soon," he whispered to himself, before disappearing into the shadows.

His plan was simple, but first he needed to find out if they had any rooms in the hotel.

"We have several rooms, sir. Would you be interested in any of them?" The man at the desk of the hotel asked him.

"Yes please."

"Do you have any preference of floors?" he asked.

Before he could answer a young girl interrupted. "Please can I have the keys to our rooms? Third floor. The reservation should be under Delaney."

Richard had to look away from the girl, so that he could hide his shocked expression as he heard Rae's last name.

"Thanks," the girl said as she took the four sets of keys from the man.

"Sorry about that sir," the man continued, "Which floor would you prefer?"

"Third floor would be good."

As he signed a fake signature on the paperwork he could not help but think how well this was all planning. With any luck he would be with Rae again tonight.

"Thank you sir," the man said as he took the papers back and handed him his key. "I hope that you have a pleasant stay."

"Oh I will," he replied, a smile spreading across his face.


	30. Time to dance

Rae

As one, they all gasped as they looked at the inside of main hall. Rae was amazed. Somehow it was even more impressive then the outside.

They seemed to have stuck with the celebrity theme because as they walked in the first thing they saw was there faces on a giant screen. They laughed as they saw there shocked faces projected on the screen.

The rest of the room had been made up like an L.A club of some sort, as there was a large dance floor in the centre, along with a raised platform. Lights flashed around them and the music was so loud that it seemed to make the room shake.

Together they walked out of the way of the camera that was pointing at them and joined the rest of the crowd on the dance floor.

"I'm gonna go and get the keys to our rooms. Be back in a minute," Rachel shouted to them above the music.

They nodded back at her, not wanting to shout over the music.

For a while they danced together, and when Rachel came back with the keys she joined them.

However, after a while they all became tired and decided to sit down.

"Oh crap," Jess said as she looked into the crowd, trying to hide her face behind her hair.

"What?" Rae asked, trying to see who Jess was hiding from.

After a minute or two she saw a group of girls walking through the crowd towards them and she attempted to hide her face as well. It was Chrissie, their arch nemesis, along with her friends.

"Hey girls. You enjoying the party?" she droned in her nasal voice.

"Hey Chrissie. Well, yeah, isn't it just, like, amazing?" Sarah said, making her voice nasal like Chrissie's, sarcasm dripping from her lips.

"Well, haha Sarah. You're so funny I forgot to laugh. Anyway, I helped to make this prom the amazing event that it is, so you should be thanking me."

Her request was met with complete silence from all four of them and she sneered down at them, trying to find something that she could insult about them. Her eyes landed on Sarah's dress. "Oh gosh, Sarah. It looks like you're wearing half of the clothes that I threw out last week. Why'd you cut them up and make them into that monstrosity?" Her eyes went to Rae's and her sneer grew more evil. "Rae. You could have at least tried. Your dress is so... simple," she laughed and her friends joined in.

Jess stood up angry, but Rachel stepped forwards and grabbed onto her, stopping Jess from doing anything.

"Come on Chrissie. We're just here to have fun, like you," Rae said quietly.  
"Yeah, well don't do it near me, okay? You freaks keep away from me," and with these spiteful words she walked off with her friends to be swallowed up by the crowd.

"Oh I hate that bitch," Jess snarled angrily.

Rae nodded, agreeing with Jess.

"Come on guys, just leave it. I meant it when I said we were here to have a good time, okay? Don't let Chrissie ruin it." Trust Rachel to calm everyone down.

Jess nodded, reluctantly agreeing.

"Maybe we should go to our rooms and freshen up," Sarah suggested.

They all agreed.

"Where are our rooms?" Rae asked Rachel as they walked through the lobby and towards the lifts.

"Third floor. You and Rae are sharing a room and me and Jess have got a room together. Two beds in each room of course."

"Yay!" Sarah cheered, running forward to link arms with Rae. She dragged her forwards so that they could reach the elevators but as they moved forwards Rae stopped in shock. She thought she'd heard a familiar Irish accent. "Was that? No. It can't be." she said quietly to herself. That voice...

"Rae? Are you okay?" Sarah asked, worry evident in her voice.

"I'm fine. I – err- just forgot something. I'll see you guys in the room in a minute." Rae detangled herself from Sarah and walked off before they had a chance to stop her.

As she went back to the desk she saw a man standing at the desk, with his back facing her. Was it him? "Richard?" she asked cautiously

The man turned around and she gasped a silent sigh of relief as she saw that it was not him. "Sorry sir. I thought you were somebody else."

The man smiled politely back at her and continued talking to the receptionist.

She walked off, feeling a sense of relief. However as she stepped into the elevator she realised that when she had thought that it was Richard she hadn't only felt nervous but had also felt excited. Why would she have felt that? He had killed two men as well as kidnapped her. If anything she should feel anger at seeing him again, not excitement.

Muttering swear words to herself she pressed the button for the third floor and waited for the lift to go up.

Once she had reached the floor she realised that she did not know what room number she had.

"Sarah? Rachel?" she called softly as she walked up and down the corridor.

One of the doors opened and a man came out with a baseball cap covering his face in shadow.

However before she could ask him whether he had seen her friends, she heard Sarah calling her name from up the corridor. "Rae! This way," she laughed at the rhyme.

Rae nodded at the man before walking up the corridor and into the room. "Oh my gosh Sarah! This is amazing!" Rae exclaimed as she walked into the room. It was much more posh then any of the hotels that she had previously stayed at, not that there had been many.

There were two beds placed on either side of the extremely large room, with a large space in the middle that was filled with a television and a sofa. There was another room with was to be there bathroom. She only briefly looked inside but from what she could see the bath was huge.

"I know, right," Sarah said, in agreement to Rae's reaction.

"Which beds mine?" Rae asked.

"Well I've picked this one, because ya know I like sleeping close to the door, so that one's yours," she replied, indicating to the bed next to the wall.

"Aha, sounds good to me," she replied, before throwing herself on the bed and giggling.

Sarah walked over to her bag that she had placed on the sofa and took out a small metal flask.

"What's that?" Rae asked, suddenly suspicious.

"Just some vodka," she giggled in reply. "Want some?"

"Well..." Rae said thoughtfully.

"Oh come on Rae. It's hardly gonna get you drunk."

Rae sighed before taking the flask from her and swallowing a gulp.

She had to cover her mouth, to stop herself from spitting the burning liquid out.

"Oh hell Sarah. No way is that just vodka," she said, after her throat had eventually stopped burning.

Sarah giggled, "Okay, there might be a teeny, tiny bit of tequila in there and possibly some whisky as well.

"Well it tastes disgusting," Rae replied.

"Aw, come on Rae. It's nice."

Sarah snatched the flask from her and took a sip. Rae watched in amazement as she didn't even flinch when the liquid slipped down her throat.

"Wow Sarah," Rae exclaimed, expressing her amazement.

"I know right," she giggled. Sarah slipped the flask back into her bag before grabbing onto Rae's arm and leading her out of the room. "Come on; let's go get Rachel and Jess."

Rae only just had time to shut the door behind her before Rae dragged her down the corridor and into the room next to theres.


	31. Do as I say

Richard

Richard opened the door to his room and watched as Rae looked up at him. He wanted to reveal himself to her, so badly, but he knew that it was dangerous.

He was glad that he had had the sense to wear a baseball cap that cast a shadow over his face.

She only looked up at him briefly, not managing to recognize him, before her friend called her and she walked away with a nod of her head.

Damn.

His eyes followed her as she walked up the corridor and disappeared into the room, exclaiming an "Ohmygosh!" at what she saw inside.

At that moment when he saw her, he wanted nothing more then to grab her and hold her body tight against him. He would have revealed himself to her if she had not had friends with her. It was just his luck that she would not be by herself when going to the prom.

Not that he wanted her to be lonely. He wanted nothing more then for her to have friends, but at the moment it was not convenient for him.

After a few minutes of staring at the place where Rae had previously been standing he heard someone coming up the stairs, so he went back into his room and closed the door behind him.

He had to admit that the hotel room was very nice and very big. It was maybe a bit too fancy for his liking but he was still impressed.

He just wished that he had someone to share the room with. The expansiveness of the room only seemed to intensify his loneliness, causing it to burst out of him in waves. Rae was only a few rooms away from him and he wanted to see her so badly that it was an almost physical pain in his gut.

"Just wait for the opportune moment," he said out loud to himself, as he paced up and down the room. "She'll be left alone at some point. I just need to wait."

He didn't realise how soon this would be until he opened up his door and walked up the corridor, as if to get in the lift.

Instead he was waiting to see if Rae was going to come out.

After he had walked up the corridor a few times he decided that he had better go to this room to avoid looking suspicious.

However, just as he was in the room and was about to close the door behind him, he heard the sound of a door opening.

Cautiously he stuck his head out of the doorway.

Coming out of the room that Rae had gone into were two girls, one with black hair and the other with dyed red hair. He had seen them earlier with Rae, so knew that they were friends of hers.

The girls got into the elevator and disappeared from view, but nobody else came out of the room. This was the opportune moment for him.

Standing outside the door of the room he wondered whether he should knock or simply walk in.

Deciding that it would be best to knock, he raised his hand and knocked twice on the door.

He waited in apprehension for Rae to answer, but was shocked as the door opened and another girl was standing in front of him. She had blonde hair and her eyes were unfocused as if she was drunk.

"Hello," she said, smiling warily at him.

"Hello," he copied, not sure who she was. What was he meant to do now? "Is Rae in?" he asked.

"Oh, yes," she said to him before calling out over her shoulder, "Rae! Get your butt over here. Someone's here to see you."

Her eyes went back to him, her eyes roaming up and down his body as if taking him in. "You Rae's boyfriend? Because if you are, then I am extremely jealous."

Before he could reply Rae's sweet voice came from behind her. "Sarah, what the hell are you saying? Who is it?"

Her face appeared and he saw how much she had changed. Her face had lost some of the puppy fat that she had originally had, so her face was now a lot slimmer. Her cheekbones were more prominent but the effect was not sickening. Instead it cast shadows on her face, making her more interesting to look at.

When first appearing behind the girl she had been smiling, but when she saw him he watched as her face fell in shock.

"Richard?" she whispered, her hands moving to cover her mouth. It was obvious that she was shocked to see him, but who could blame her. It had been a while.

"Rae," he replied with a smile on his face.

"Who's this?" Sarah asked, looking between the two of them, her face a mask of confusion.

"It's Richard Newman," she explained quietly. "The man who kidnapped me."

Sarah laughed but stopped when she saw Rae's face. "You're joking, right?"

Rae shook her head, obviously not able to say anything.

"Rae, it's okay. I'm here now," Richard said, trying to reassure her. Why was she still so shocked? He expected her to be happy to see him, at the very least.

Rae seemed angry now, instead of shocked. "You can't be here Richard. You should be in jail."

"But my love, I need you. I couldn't cope in there without you."

"I don't care Richard. You need to leave, now."

An unexpected burst of anger surged through him and he took a threatening step towards Rae and Sarah. "Don't fuck with me Rae. I know how you feel about me so don't even try and deny it. I need to be here."

Richard watched, almost in triumph, as fear clouded Rae's features.

Sarah however seemed just as angry as he was. "Who the hell do you think you are mister, coming in here and threatening my friend? Why don't you just piss off?" While she had been speaking to him, she had walked up to him and her face was pressed against his.

"Sarah," Rae warned but before Sarah even had a chance to back off Richard had grabbed her by the hair.

"Don't you dare tell me to piss off," he said as he pulled her backwards by the hair, causing her to cry out in pain, "You don't know who I am or what I am capable of."

"Stop it Richard," Rae cried out, running up to him, but he pushed her to the ground.

He threw Sarah to the ground alongside her and ran into the kitchen.

Grabbing the sharpest knife he could find from the kitchen drawer, he ran back into the living room to see the two girls still on the floor.

He was breathing hard as he looked down at them. "Now, Rae. If you don't do what I say then I am going to have no choice but to kill Sarah here."

He ran the knife over his finger to show her how sharp it was. Blood dripped from his finger to the floor. "I need you to find me something that I can tie Sarah up with. Off you go Rae."

When she didn't stand up he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her roughly up. The fear in her eyes almost made him feel guilty but he knew that she would be fine once she realised that he loved her just as much as she loved him.

He watched carefully as she walked into the other room, before turning back to Sarah who was still lying on the floor.

Tears were running down her face.

"I think that you and I shall have some fun Sarah," he said, as he leant down and pressed the blade against her throat, drawing blood.


	32. Please, help her

**Thank you for everyone who has 'subscribed' to my story and is following it, but an extra special thanks to everyone who has reviewed. If it wasn't for the reviews then I would have given up on this story a long time ago, so thanks :) x**

Rae

As Rae looked for something to tie Sarah up with, she had to fold her arms around her chest to stop herself from shaking so much.

How could Richard be here? He was meant to be locked up in a prison far away from her, but no. Here he was, tormenting her and her friend.

Unwillingly a sob was forced from her as she thought about Richard being in the other room with Sarah. What was he going to do to her? Would he kill her? And what about herself?

Deciding that it was best not to dwell on things that may never happen she went to the bathroom to try and find some rope or something. Maybe it would be best if Sarah was tied up. It would mean that when Rachel and Jess came back then they could get some help for her.

Realising that the only thing she would be able to find would be some kind of fabric, she picked up several long towels as well as some spare shower curtains.

Suddenly from the other room there came a scream, followed by a sickening thud.

Dropping the towels and curtain, Rae ran into the other room.

She had to place her hands over her mouth to muffle the screams that came from her mouth as she looked at the site before her.

Richard was standing above Sarah with his knife covered in blood, and as she looked down at Sarah she saw that her chest was covered in blood as well. He had stabbed her.

"What the hell have you done?" she screamed at him as she ran over to Sarah.

"She threatened me," he said, his voice shaking. "I just lost it."

Rae looked up at him with disgust as he wiped the bloody knife on the sofa with shaking hands.

She grabbed the cardigan that she was wearing over her dress and pressed it over the wound. "She needs medical help."

"Oh, really? Well why don't I just go downstairs and ask the person at reception whether they would kindly call the ambulance because I just stabbed someone. Yeah, Rae, well done."

"Fuck you Richard," she shouted at him.

He reached down and grabbed her roughly by the arm. "What do you expect me to do Rae? Do you want me to go to prison again?"

She avoided his question, knowing the answer that she would give would not be the one that he'd want. "You can't let her die."

His eyes were cold and heartless as he looked down at her but she made sure to look as sad as possible, which under the circumstances was not very hard. "Please," she begged.

"Fuck." He let go of her arm and threw her to the ground. "Okay, okay. I'll go and get someone to help, someone I can trust."

"Who? What do you mean someone you can trust?"

"There was this man that I used to know in prison. He was let out a few weeks ago, but he was a medic. He doesn't live too far from here."

She didn't know what else to say so she nodded. As long as Sarah did not die, she did not care who treated her.

"Do you have a mobile?" he asked. She shook her head. "Fuck. I'm gonna have to go downstairs and make the call then."

'Yes' she thought to herself. If he left her alone then she could get some proper help for Sarah and maybe even call the police. "Okay but be quick," she said, whilst hoping that he would take his time.  
"Rae," he said seriously, obviously seeing something in her eyes, "Do you really think that I'm going to leave you in this room so that you can call for help? I'm gonna have to tie you up."

"No!" she begged. "Don't Richard, please."

He looked down at her and for a moment there was a hint of remorse in his eyes but then he blinked and he was the usual heartless Richard again.

Shaking his head at her, he walked into the bathroom and picked up the towels and curtains that she had dropped.

"Put your hands behind your back," he demanded.

When she refused he grabbed her and forced her arms behind her back, causing her to gasp in pain.

Within a few minutes he had tied her arms and legs up, and had placed her in a chair.

"What about Sarah?" she asked. "She'll bleed to death if you leave her."

"She'll be fine for a few minutes. I won't be long." With these words he slammed the door behind him and left her tied up in the hotel room, with her friend bleeding to death on the floor next to her.

**There should be another chapter up later on because I'm starting to really get into this story again :)**


	33. One less inconvenience

Richard

Richard greatly regretted stabbing that girl. He had simply lost it when she had threatened him. How dare she say that he would be locked up in prison? Well he would show her. He'd show them all that he could take charge and handle everything.

Tucked into the waistband of his jeans was the knife that he had used to stab Sarah. He wasn't sure whether he was carrying it for protection or just for comfort, but either way it felt good to have it with him.

"Please may I make a phone call?" he asked, as he reached the reception desk.

"Of course, sir. There's one just up the corridor that is specifically for guests."

He nodded his thanks and walked up the corridor towards the phone.

On his way he passed one of the girls that Rae had been with. For some reason she stared up at him as he walked past and he could have sworn that he saw a hint of recognition in her eyes, which is why when he reached the phone he did not pick it up straight away. He was thinking hard. Where had he seen her before?

And then all of a sudden it hit him. Rachel Marcel. She'd been a student of his when he was an art teacher at Rae's school. He hadn't recognised her straight away because she had died her hair from brown to red.

"Shit," he muttered to himself as he saw her staring at him from across the room with a look of complete panic on her face.

He didn't want her to know that he knew she was staring so he picked up the phone and pretended to dial a number, all the while watching her discretely in the reflection of a frame.

Now that she thought he was busy he watched as she ran over to the elevator. However it was obviously not coming quick enough because she gave up on the elevator and instead ran towards the stairs.

"Gottcha," he thought to himself as he placed the phone back in its cradle and walked quickly towards the stairs.

As he sprinted down the stairs he could hear Rachel's heels against the concrete of the stairs.

"Rachel," he said, loud enough for her to hear but not loud enough that it would scare anyone else.

From below he heard the clicking of heels stop and he took this moment to run and catch up with her. "It's been a while, Rachel." Her face was shocked and filled with fear as she stared up at him.

She tried to run but he reached forward and pushed her, causing her to go toppling down the stairs.

She cried out as she fell but he did not go after her, instead choosing to stand and watch her from a distance.

Quickly she managed to get up and pathetically attempted to run away from him. He didn't even bother running after her, deciding that he would make this into a game, making it more interesting.

A crackling noise sounded from nearby in front of him, so he knew that she was not too far away.

As he pulled a piece of plastic aside he saw that they were in some kind of storeroom where they held spare bits of furniture for the hotel guests.

From the waistband of his jeans he took out the knife and held it at his side. "Rachel," he whispered, knowing that she could hear him. His voice echoed pleasantly back at him and he couldn't help but marvel at the effect that he would sure to be having on the poor girl. "I'm not going to hurt you," he continued.

She must have heard the lie in his voice because she did not reveal herself to him.

From his left he heard a light rustling and he walked towards the source of the noise. "Is that you Rachel?" he asked.

All of a sudden something slammed him in the side and he gasped, falling to the floor at the impact. "Fuck!" he shouted, as he saw Rachel run past him, disappearing from sight. On the floor next to him lay a large trolley.

Carefully he pulled himself, deciding that nothing was broken.

"You shouldn't have done that Rachel! Now I'm really angry," he shouted, the echoes repeating his words back at him.

He walked forwards, being more careful this time. His ears were kept alert and he was using all his senses to watch out for her.

Seeing a shadow pass by to the left of him he ran forwards and slashed the plastic aside only for a flock of pigeons to come flying out at him. He cursed, knowing that she would now know where he was.

A footstep sounded from behind him but he was alert and he turned around and slashed at Rachel, just as she attempted to whack a piece of chair across his head.

Satisfied, he watched as she dropped the piece of wood and gasped in pain.

He got behind her and grabbed her hair pulling her backwards. "You bitch. Nothing can keep me and Rae apart, nothing."

He took a brief moment to relish the fear that fear that filled her eyes before he stabbed her in the chest. Once. Twice. He carried on stabbing her until he was certain that she was dead and then he threw the body to the floor and collapsed to the ground.

His breath was being ripped out of him, in short, sharp gasps and it took him a while to compose his breathing. Whether it was the fact that he had done too much physical exercise, or the fact that a trolley had been slammed into his side, he did not know but either way he was exhausted.

After he could breathe normally again, he looked down at his bloodied hands. It was strange, but he felt no remorse. Jessica deserved it. She should have realised that no one could get between Rae and him. There love was far too strong for that.

He groaned as he realised that he now had the problem of trying to hide the body. However he brightened up slightly as he saw that there were plenty of places to hide her.

Finding a cupboard that was about the same size as Jessica, he picked up her feet and started dragging her along the floor. It took him a while to actually get her in the cupboard, as although she was reasonably light, it had been a while since he had done any physical exercise.

Once she was almost standing in the cupboard he took one last look at her bloodied form before slamming the cupboard door shut and locking it with a key that he had found in the drawer.

Remembering that he was meant to call his friend for Sarah, he figured that it was too late. She was probably already dead now. Oh well. One less person to get in between him and Rae. With this thought he walked up the stairs, back towards his Rae, chuckling darkly all the way.


	34. Love's bloody mess

Rae

As soon as Richard closed the door behind him, Rae struggled against the towels that he had bound her with. She couldn't sit here while her friend lay bleeding to death next to her.

It was harder to try and escape from the chair then she thought. He had tied her up pretty tightly and there was no way that she would be able to rip the towels in half.

"Sarah!" she shouted to her friend, seeing her eyes start to close. "Please Sarah. Don't close your eyes. Talk to me!"

"Rae," she whispered back to her.

"That's it Sarah. Stay awake. Everything's going to be okay."

Sarah chuckled lightly but gasped as if it caused her pain. "Don't lie to me Rae."

Tears started to trickle down Rae's cheek as she realised that her friend was going to die. "I'm sorry Sarah. I'm so fucking sorry," she sobbed.

"It's not your fault sweetie." She was starting to slur her words.

"But it is! If it wasn't for me then he wouldn't be here in the first place."

"Don't think like that Rae, please. S' not your fault."

Sarah's eyes closed and Rae shouted at her to wake up but her friends eyes stayed closed.

"Fuck," she screamed, thrashing desperately against the chair and towels. However she only attempted to fall over, crashing her head against the floor.

"Sarah," she whispered, tears still falling down her face. "Please, don't leave me."

She reached forward and tried to drag herself across the floor towards her friend but she was too weak and she soon gave up.

For a while she kicked out, trying to break the chair but it seemed impossible to escape.

Instead she decided to try screaming for help instead. Maybe if someone walked past then they would help her.

"Help me!" she screamed, over and over, but no one came.

She soon gave up, her voice soon becoming hoarse.

All of a sudden the door came crashing open and she saw Richard illuminated in the doorway.

"Was that you screaming?" he asked, closing and locking the door behind him. He walked swiftly over to her and dragged her and the chair up.

She didn't answer him, not wanting to speak to him.

He must've noticed something in her eyes, or even seen the fresh tears still on her cheeks because he looked down at Sarah.

"Is she dead?" he asked.

"Yes!" she screamed at him. "You killed her! You're a fucking murderer!"

"Shh Rae," he said, walking towards her and wrapping his arms around her. "I'm sorry my love, I'm so sorry, but she was asking too many questions. I regret it now, but it's too late to go back on it. We're just going to have to live with the consequences."

If she hadn't been tied up then she would have lashed out at him, but she couldn't and her anger eventually ebbed away, only to be replaced with a sadness that ran deep within her.

"I hate you," she whispered.

He pulled away from her and looked into her eyes. She couldn't help but notice that his brown eyes that had once seemed warm were now cold and lacking emotion. "You don't hate me Rae. You hate what I've done and I can understand that."

"No Richard. I hate _you_."

She expected him to get angry but he did not. Instead he grabbed a chair from the dining table and placed it in front of her, before sitting on it. "Don't tell me that you've always hated me. There must have been a time when you loved me, even liked me."

For a moment she thought about lying to him, saying that she always hated him and always would, but she knew that it would be pointless. She had always been terrible at lying.

"Yes, there was a time." She was purposely avoiding his intent gaze as she spoke to him. "When I first saw you in that classroom a year ago I thought you were good looking and I almost enjoyed the attention that you used to give me." She laughed pathetically at the memory. "But then you took me away, without even asking me whether it's what I wanted. Then you denied me my freedom and that joy started to fade away. But then after they'd arrested you and locked you up I started to become worried about you. I knew that you wouldn't be able to cope locked up with all those criminals. I used to have nightmares about you killing yourself when in prison and I used to wake up screaming and crying. I think that I realised at that point that I did love you, but then you did this Richard. You tied me up, threatened me and killed my friend. Do you really think that I can forgive you for what you've done?"

"Rae, I'm sorry for what I did but I was confused. I didn't know whether you wanted me or not and I just wanted you so badly."

She shook her head. "My friend is lying on the floor, dead, next to me and I think that the only reason I'm not screaming about is because I'm in shock. You killed her Richard. Her blood is on your hands."

Something suddenly came to her as she looked at Richards bloody hands. "Your hands didn't have any blood on them before. You didn't even use your hands. What the hell have you done?"

She watched as his face froze and he turned away from her gaze. "It's nothing," he replied.

"What do you mean it's nothing? Tell me Richard. How did you get that blood on your hands?"

"Someone got in my way. They were going to tell someone about you and I couldn't let that happen. I need you Rae."

"Oh god Richard." Her breath came out of her in sharp gasps as she thought of what he might have done to yet another person. "Did you kill them?"

"No," he said defiantly, but she could tell that he was lying.

"Fucking hell Richard!" she shouted at him. "Now can you see why I can't love you? You need help."

He took a step towards her and got down to his knees. He pressed his palms together so that it looked as if he was praying. "Please Rae," he begged. "Please love me. I need you to love me."

"I-I don't know what to think Richard. Maybe... maybe if you got some help then I'd be able to love you."

"Help?" he asked hesitantly. "What do you mean help?"

"Call the police Richard. Tell them what you did. Get some psychiatric help."

"No!" he shouted at her, standing up. "They'd put me in prison and then you'd never be able to see me again."

"But I'd be able to see you in prison. It'll be better for you if you give yourself in."

All of a sudden there came a knock on the door and they both froze. A voice came from outside. "Is everything alright in there? I heard shouting."

"Oh no, oh no, oh no," Richard muttered over and over. "I need to get out of here."

Rae regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth, but she knew that she couldn't let him kill someone else. "Richard. Climb out of the window."

"No, Rae. I can't leave you."

"You have too."

He looked at her for a long moment before reaching forwards and kissing her on the cheek. She had to resist the urge to flinch away from him.

"I'll come and find you Rae, soon. I'll show you I can change," he said as he climbed out of the window. He gave her one last look before disappearing from view.

"Help!" she screamed. "Open the god damn door."

"Miss? Are you okay?" the voice from behind the door asked.

"No. There's... a dead body in here. You need to call the police. But first, please, open the door."

"Ok. I'm going to break the door down. Get back."

She didn't have the strength to tell him that she could not move back.

Several loud thuds sounded before the door came crashing open, bouncing off the wall several times.

The man covered his mouth in shock as he saw Rae tied to a chair and the bloodied body next to her.

As she saw her reaction, all of the energy disappeared from her and she must have collapsed because the next thing she knew - darkness.

When she woke up it was to a beeping noise, which was incredibly frustrating and repetitive. The room that she woke up in was extremely white, and machinery surrounded her. She assumed that she was in a hospital.

Someone must have realised that she was awake because the door opened and two police officers walked in. One was a man with short blonde hair and the other was a woman with red hair. She was suddenly reminded of Sarah and she had to swallow hard to make the sudden lump in her throat disappear.

"We know you've only just woken up but we'd like to ask you some questions if that's okay with you," the woman police officer said.

Rae wanted to say that she was too ill to talk but she knew that if she left it then it would only be harder to lie to them. "Sure," she said.

She expected the two police officers to take a chair but they both stayed standing, with the man taking out a notepad, assumingly to take notes with.

"Who was it that tied you up and killed Sarah and Rachel?" the woman police officer asked.

Rae looked at them in disbelief. "Rachel? What do you mean? Rachel isn't dead."

The two police officers exchanged a puzzled look. "Both Rachel Marcel and Sarah Johnson were found murdered in the hotel."

"Oh gosh," Rae whispered, tears streaming down her face. She was in shock.

"You didn't know Rachel was dead?" they asked.

She shook her head. "No."

"I'm so sorry. Was she your friend?"

"My best friend." Suddenly the fact that two of her friends were dead overwhelmed and she suddenly couldn't breathe. Her body started to shake so violently that she couldn't control it.

"Nurse!" one of the police officers shouted.

She heard the door open and someone touched her neck but she couldn't concentrate. Noises surrounded her but they were meaningless. Her friends were dead and all because of that monster. He knew that he'd killed Rachel as well as Sarah and he hadn't even told her.

Something sharp dug into her arm and then the darkness overwhelmed her once again, causing her dreadful thoughts to disappear. She was so grateful. She couldn't have taken much more.


	35. Gone

_**Two weeks later**_

Rae

_She drove up to her house and parked her car on the road outside, noticing that her mother's car was already parked in the driveway. Before entering the house she took a mint from her purse and started munching on it, so that it would disguise the smell of alcohol that was on her breath. That seemed to be all she'd done in the past two weeks, drink. It distracted her, made her numb._

_When she opened the door to her house the first thing she noticed was how quiet it was. The television was on but there were none of the normal noises of chatting and people moving around._

_She walked in slowly, the alcohol having made her slightly tipsy and slightly incoherent. _

_She was about to call out her mothers name but something stopped her. Whether it was the thought of being caught smelling of alcohol, or the feeling that was something was wrong she did not know, but either way doing this might have saved her life although she did not know this yet._

_She threw her jacket on the sofa and turned off the television which seemed too loud in the silence of the house. Slowly she looked around thinking that maybe they were out, but then she remembered that she had seen her mothers car, and she would not have been able to get anywhere without it. They lived too far out to be able to walk anywhere. _

_Walking over to the stairs, she heard a sound from above. A loud crash followed the sound. She proceeded cautiously up the stairs feeling the first feelings of doubt settle in her stomach. First she went over to her little sisters bedroom, expecting her to be sitting on the floor and playing with her dolls like she usually did but she wasn't there._

_The light was on but there was nobody in. _

_She then went to her bedroom deciding that maybe they had gone out in her mother's car in a rush, and that was why all the lights were on, but deep down she knew that this was not the case. Then she heard the crash again._

_She realised at this point that all of the sound was coming from her mother's bedroom. She heard a scream from within and took a quick step backwards just as the door came crashing open. The scream that was just about to come out of her mouth was stopped mid flow when she saw her mother being dragged out by a man in a baseball cap and dark clothing. He paused as he saw her and her mother looked up at her with frightened eyes. Her mother was covered in blood and Rae could tell that she was hurt by the way that she winced as he struggled with her. With a quick move of his fist he threw her to the side. She didn't get up again. _

_Rae's breath was coming out in short gasps now. She wanted to see if her mother was alright but she could not move. _

_She could not see the mans face as he walked towards her, as it was covered by shadow but then when he was almost in front of her he looked up and this time she managed a scream. She had to cover her mouth to hide the hysteria that was spreading through her._

_His face was twisted and contorted in a mixture of love and anger, but all the same she could still recognise him. It was Richard Newman. _

"Richard?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"Rae! Oh I'm so glad you're here." He took a step towards her but she moved backwards.

"What are you doing?"

He looked down at her mother's unconscious form before looking up at her with a smile on his face. "I worked it out while you were gone."

She was confused. "Worked what out?"

"It's your family that's stopping you from being with me."  
"My family? Richard, where's my little sister Louise?"

"Gone," he said simply and she felt her feet collapse from underneath her.

He ran towards her but she screamed at him to stop and he obeyed her. Her hands were shaking and she felt as if everything was falling around her. However no tears would fall because she was in shock. "Oh Richard," she sobbed.

"Rae, you're free without them. It can just be me and you, no baggage, nothing to get in our way."

"You silly, silly man."

"Don't call me silly," he shouted at her, stopping her tears.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, a plan forming in her head. She took several deep breaths to try and calm herself down. She had to be brave for her mother and sister. "I'll leave with you."

He stared at her, shocked. "You mean it."

She nodded. "You're right. I have nobody else. You're all I have left."

He smiled at her and reached forward to embrace her. If she hadn't been trying to fool him then she would have pushed him away but she needed to be convincing.

"I need to get some stuff from my room."

"Of course, of course." He grabbed her gently by her arms and pulled her to her feet.

He somehow already knew where her bedroom was and led her to it.

"Would you like me to get your suitcase?" he asked.

She was about to ask him how he knew where it was but realised that it would be pointless. She didn't care anymore. "Sure," she said.

While he went into her cupboard she reached underneath the bed and picked up the gun that lay there. The gun had once belonged to her father. Ever since Richard had first taken it, her mother had insisted that she kept the gun there, just in case he ever came back. She had thought it ridiculous at the time but now she realised that it might save her life.

Raising the gun to the back of Richards head, she was about to pull the trigger when he turned around and stared at her. She kept the gun raised but moved her finger away from the trigger.

"Rae?" he asked, shocked.

"I'm sorry Richard. I can't go with you."

His expression changed so quickly that it scared her. He stared down at her sadly. "I knew it Rae. I just knew it."

"I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"It's okay. Go ahead, shoot me."

"I can't," she sobbed.

He walked towards her but she didn't lower the gun. He stood in front of her so that the gun was aimed at his chest. "Do it. Please. I can't live without you anyway."

"But I think I love you." Her hand was starting to shake.

His fingers brushed against her cheek, wiping away the tears. "I killed people Rae. I'm not right for you. I understand that. I think I always have but I just couldn't admit it, so I killed people, pretending that I was doing right."

Tears continued streaming down her face.

His face moved forwards and almost hesitantly he pressed his lips against hers. The kiss was full of fire and anger, but at the same time it was sweet and loving. It was so desperate that it made her heart ache. She could taste her salty tears on his lips and she loved it. She hadn't realised how badly she had wanted to kiss him.

As he pulled away from her, she was about to pull the gun away from his chest when she felt his finger on the trigger of the gun.

'Bang.'

She screamed, over and over, as he fell to the floor, blood gushing from the wound to his chest.

"Richard!" she screamed, leaning over him and holding tightly to him.

He looked up at her, his eyes filled with tears. "I love you Rae, never forget that. I did it all for you. I did it all for you my love." His eyes closed and she could feel a coldness start to spread through him as his heart stopped beating.

"No!" she screamed at his cold lifeless body. "Don't leave me! Please, Richard."

She didn't know how long she clung to his bloodied body, sobbing and screaming at the heavens.

From downstairs she heard the sound of a door being forced open but she didn't care. She just wanted Richard back.

After a while someone gripped onto her shoulders, trying to pull her away from Richard but she screamed at them and lashed out, clinging more tightly to Richard's body.

Slowly her senses started to come back to her and she heard people around her talking.

"Three... dead... screaming... called the police... who is he?"

"He's Richard," she answered to the last person who had talked. "He's the person that I loved."

Warm arms picked her up but she didn't fight them. She was so tired. "We'll look after you honey. You'll be okay," a kind voice said in her ear.

"I'll never be okay," she whispered, before closing her eyes and blocking out the rest of the world.

**Oh, guys :') I only have one maybe two more chapters to write of this story. This last bit was so sad to write though. :) Hope you like. x**


	36. Fin

Rae

As she looked at the rifle in her hand she wondered if she could really kill herself. Would it hurt? How much would she bleed? She could already imagine the metal bullet tearing its path of destruction through her body.

It had only been two days since her mother and sister had been murdered and Richard had killed himself, yet it had felt like a lifetime.

Now that her house was a crime scene she had had no choice but to move somewhere else. As most of her other family members were dead or lived in America, she was forced to move in with an older cousin who she barely knew.

Several times the police came round but she refused to talk to them, not wanting to have to remember everything that had happened. Instead she did her best to block out the rest of the world by shutting herself in her room. She would refuse to eat, thinking that maybe she could starve herself to death. However when looking around the house when her cousin was out she had come across a rifle in her bedroom closet. There weren't any bullets in it but it hadn't taken her long to find them.

Now she sat in her bedroom, with the gun in her hands, wondering if she really had the guts to kill herself.

It was easy to sit down and say that you were going to kill yourself, but it was so much harder to physically grab a gun and press it against your temples, waiting for the courage to pull the trigger.

Several times she had pressed the gun against her head, only to drop the gun back onto the bed as if it was made of fire. It was so much harder then she thought it would be.

After half an hour of trying to pull the trigger, she was a mess. Tears ran down her face and she couldn't stop shaking.

"For fuck sake Rae," she muttered to herself. "Pull yourself together."

Once again she lifted up the gun but instead of pressing it against her head; she opened up her mouth and placed the butt of the gun inside. Maybe it would be easier. The metal of the gun tasted foreign in her mouth and a sudden wave of nausea ran through her.

She threw the gun to the floor and ran to the bathroom, only just making it in time, before throwing up. After she was sick she felt slightly better but she was still shaking.

"I can't do it," she sobbed, covering her face with her hands. Suddenly a flashback of that dreadful night came back to her.

"_It's okay. Go ahead, shoot me," he'd said._

"_I can't," she'd sobbed back at him, her hands shaking from fear._

_He'd walked towards her but she hadn't lowered the gun. He'd stood in front of her so that the gun was aimed at his chest. "Do it. Please. I can't live without you anyway."_

"_But I think I love you."_

She sobbed even harder as she remembered everything that she had lost in the past year. Her father, Sarah, Rachel, her mother, her little sister and Richard, all dead. It was no wonder that she wanted to kill herself. She had no one else left in the world.

"Fuck!" she screamed, over and over, until she had no strength left and could no longer speak.

"Rae," a voice said from in front of her.

She opened her eyes and blinked the tears away from her eyes so that she could see who it was. "Jess," she whispered hoarsely.

"Oh sweetie," Jess said, tears falling down her face and making her black, eye make up run. She walked towards Rae and wrapped her arms around her. "It's okay."

"No. It's not," Rae sobbed. "They're all dead."

Jess pulled her away so that she could look her deep in the eyes. "I know, but we can't bring them back. We have to live with what we've got and right now, all we have is each other, okay?"

"Oh, Jess," she sighed, wrapping her arms tightly around her friend.

After a while Jess pulled away and looked at Rae. "Were you going to kill yourself?" she asked hesitantly.

Rae nodded ashamedly. "I thought I had no one left. I didn't think there was much point carrying."

"You'll always have someone, Rae. At the moment you have me, but you'll grow older and meet new people and they'll love you, just as much as your mother, sister and friends did. And don't forget that they're all watching you, and always will be."

Rae had no words for Jess so instead she hugged her, pouring all of her emotions into that one hug.

At that point Rae knew that the words Jess spoke were true. She was not alone. She would always have someone there who would love and look after her, no matter what. Deep in her heart she knew that her friends, family and Richard were watching her, making sure that she was protected. For the first time in several years she felt safe and protected from harm, and for that one moment she actually felt happy. And anyway, surely things could only get better?

**I can't believe it's all over :') I hope you like the final chapter. **

**Thanks for everyone for reviewing and supporting me through the writing of this story. If it wasn't for you guys then I'd never have been able to finish this story. (Soppy much? Haha, but it's true.) I love you, I love you, I love you!**

**Just to inform you as well, that I have another (short) prom night story up at the moment called 'Till death do us part.' **

**I'm also writing a story called 'Taken' which is a transporter fanfic, so if you like transporter then please take a look and review, as otherwise I might just give up with that story :) **

**Also, after watching 'When a stranger calls' (2006 version) again last night, I've decided to write one about the film. It's called "When A Stranger Returns" and is set after "When A Stranger Calls." If you like the film then please take a look at my fanfic.**

**Anyway, once again thanks for reading my story! I love you all! :)**

**EDIT: I've added a poll to my profile, asking which cross-over fanfic people would be interested in me writing, so check it out. It depends on how much response I get on the polls, as to whether I will end up writing one. There's a couple of prom night cross-overs I was thinking of doing which is why I have posted this here.**


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